Deborra Stewart-Pettengill is an artist living and working in southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts, who works in a range of media, including sculpture, painting and printmaking. Her work is an ongoing exploration of natural and organic forms that often repeat, overlap and interact to create a tension between movement and stillness. Sculptures investigate light, shadow, value, transparency and depth. Natural forms and patterns are observed and abstracted to convey a sense of fluid motion, shifting direction, equilibrium and stasis, all held within the confines of an object or picture plane. Across medium, from print and painting to her work in sculpture, the physical nature of the material and practice is continually re-investigated in her search for common formal themes. This offers endless possibilities of repetition and variation.
Receiving an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA from University of South Carolina, she has exhibited work in solo and group shows, both regionally and nationally. Solo exhibitions include: A.R.E. Gallery (San Francisco), Heller Gallery (University of CA, Berkeley), Anderson Gallery (Virginia Commonwealth University), Hamden Gallery (University of Massachusetts), Hillyer Gallery (Smith College), Drury Gallery (Marlboro College), East Wing Gallery (Mount Wachusett College), The Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, SC), and The Oxbow Gallery (Northampton, MA). Group exhibitions include: Strauss Gallery (Dartmouth College), IPCNY (New York), South Shore Art Center (Cohasset, MA), APE Gallery (Northampton, MA), Danforth Museum, Bard College, Chabot College, and Mills College. Stewart-Pettengill has been awarded numerous grants along with artist residencies in Ballybawn, Ireland, Iwakuni, Japan, and the University of Montana. For a number of years she was Production Director of Crown Point Pure Silk (Crown Point Press), Oakland, CA. From 1995-2019, she taught and chaired the Fine Arts Department at the Bement School in Deerfield, MA. She is a member of the Oxbow Gallery in Northampton, MA