Debra Jean
I am and have always been an artist. Sometimes I've been a graphic designer who is an artist; other times I'm a teacher who is an artist, an actor/artist, activist/artist, and writer who makes art, but always an artist.
What did you dream of being as a child?
I imagined careers as an architect, foreign diplomat, dancer, and even a physicist, but I always made art. My first college degree is in Political Science, and while at the University of Michigan taking some art classes for fun I was 'drafted' by the late Prof. Mignonette Cheng into the School of Art and Design. So I ended up getting a dual degree -and me on a scholarship and having to go through some hoops.
Graphic design with an advertising focus seemed the most marketable. It led to various jobs doing logo design, sign design, theatre posters, and some rather dull industrial work. But I love to paint and draw and play with color, and imagination.
So I went back to graduate school part time, accepted into MFA program at Eastern Michigan University with encouragement from Prof. Ellen Wilt and Prof. David Sharp. They along with many others supported and challenged me and helped me grow into the artist I am today.
Now I paint, and draw, and design, and teach, and illustrate, and combine media, and share my passion for art in the largest sense of the word with my students, my patrons, and you.