Deborah Elizabeth

I have always been torn between the stimulation of science and the freedom I found expressing myself through art. My predilection for science (and the need to eat three meals a day and drive a late model car) was the yellow brick road which guided me through an Industrial Education program for a bachelors degree in metal fabrication. Years later, inspired when I fell head over heals for a phenomenally imaginative, medium versatile industrial designer, I entered art school.

As an artgineer (artist /engineer) my eyes were held captive by the fantastic array of shapes and colors of small electrical components that crossed my path while developing telecommunications equipment. My brain searched for ways to use these interesting treasures. Seeing these materials finding their way unused to the trash, I began harvesting all that I found, saving it from being buried in an industrial waste site. There was an immense scope of materials at my disposal. I scavenged all that I could transport home without a truck chanting the mantra "what has been will be again" from Ecclesiastes 1:9.

It wasn't long afterwards that I began pilfering from other people's lives: game pieces; decorative plastic from restaurant platters; canceled stamps; preservative packettes; broken costume jewelry; matchbooks and money from around the world; materials discovered in the street: string, broken glass, broken plastic, wire, empty ammunition shells, mutilated coins. When my personal industrial scrap heap ran dry of sui generis elements I discovered venues committed specifically to salvaging non-biodegradable objects for resale.

Continuing to collect found objects from overseas travels, the streets and curious people's donations, I began combining these materials to form suigeneris sculptures to wear. When I wore my pieces in Los Angeles and San Francisco, strangers stopped me on the streets to ask about my "art" and where could they buy it!  This inspired me to begin selling my first collection (unique bola ties) at the Orange County Contemporary Museum of Art in 1989. I  now sell my current collection (hardware jewelry) at various galleries throughout Southern California.

My work is built with society's waste. Objects which I rescue have been rejected or discarded -- many forgotten in dusty corners of a world tossed aside, useless to the contemporary mind already satiated by an overload of sterile gimmicks. In the act of creating I consider the forces at work between man and object. Does the materialistic cravings of our culture create disposability of man and object into the underworld, ignored and neglected?

I create from what I've stock piled. Taking things out of context, I distort and transform them, breathing an enigmatic edgy spirit into them until they reflect a state of equipoise. The juxtaposition of these objects of technology when worn strikes a harmonious balance between man and his environment reminding us to heed the Hopi prophecy of Koyaanisqatsi: life out of balance; a state of life that calls for another way of living.

I dedicate this verbose website first to my sisters, who have always supported my outrageous passions . . . pacified my emotional extremes . . . and accepted my eccentricities. Second, to my friends . . . who share this fascination with creativity. They have given me their time and support, shared information and provided me with continually new insights and inspirations.

Many thanks to Ryuichi Sakamoto for the continual  inspiration and motivation he provides through his words, his music, his passion, and his humanity. His creative accomplishments and artistic acumen leave me in awe.  His efforts to make our world a better place for our children and their children should be lauded by all!

And to all of you who are reading this now -- thank you for your interest and appreciation.

I will continually strive to be as fearless as an astronaut on his first voyage to another planet.