D Bouchette - Artist's Statement

I hold B.S. and M.A. degrees. My husband, Bill “Prune” Wickart, and I have been together for 25 years. Our two children are grown and gone, and our two grandchildren are wonderful reminders that each of us is born an artist.

Artist’s Statement

DEBORAH BOUCHETTE

I am a collector of shapes, colors, and pretty rocks. I am a restless learner and do-it-yourself-er, always seeking more, and happily sharing pointers to what I have found. I talk to trees, but am really bad at remembering to water houseplants. I eschew arrogance. I am a quiet rebel, an unobtrusive anarchist, and an unconvinced believer. I love language, numbers, books, research, and light when it shimmers in the late, late dark. I paint in three dimensions with very small values for z. I paint large because I am tall, and I dance.

Long ago my father took me into a lumber warehouse, inhaled slowly and deeply, and whispered “smell that!” He taught me to breathe. I loved him even though he was difficult. I remember to breathe when I paint.

I am a re-naissance woman; I sidelined my art to earn money and raise a family, and am now re-born. My inspiration comes from the Expressionists, Abstract Expressionists, and New York School Second Generation artists, whose paintings used color itself to generate form. I find a painter whose works intrigue me, digest his or her works and writings, and then move on. My favorites so far have been Franz Marc, Wolf Kahn, Hans Hofmann, Emily Mason, and Gerhard Richter.

A Tektronix Fellowship to study at the Oregon Graduate Institute brought Deborah and her family to Hillsboro in 1984. After schooling, Deborah taught briefly at Pacific University, then spent a dozen years as a program manager and technical writer at Intel Corp. A decade ago, she returned to her roots in the liberal arts and became a full-time artist. She has studied painting with a number of Oregon artists, including Mark Andres and Robert Gamblin, Tennessee artist Allen Cox, and New York artist Wolf Kahn.