Artist Feature: Deborah Schoen
What single expenditure do you regret the most?
A treadmill. My dog used it more than I.
Biggest thing you changed your mind about in life?
Having children. I made my husband wait 9 years.
Are you sorry for anything?
I’d like to apologize - ahead of time - to my children for any emotional distress I might be responsible for as I navigate the complex waters of parenthood.
What is your art about?
When I was young, my mother taught summer Home Economics classes. As the trend of “home” training phased out with the rise of feminism, those early experiences introduced me to the push and pull of “women’s work”. Although times are different, the “double day” phenomenon continues to challenge my thoughts on domesticity, the working woman, and the fantasy of the American dream. It is through my investigation of three generational and matrilineal dialogues that I explore traditional notions of femininity, the transformative qualities of female personas, and the value of one’s time. My work explores the fluidity of found-materials, the deconstruction of the old, re-contextualization of the new, and allows me to use “domestic art” to measure the boundaries that continue to challenge the modern-day woman.
Deborah Schoen is a daughter, mother, spouse and artist who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Born and raised in southern California, she grew up in a busy, eccentric home, which felt familiar after she married into the military. Since then, she has moved nearly twenty times and has lived all over the country and overseas. In the fall, Deborah will be graduating with a Bachelor’s in Visual and Performing Arts and a minor in Art History. Her process as an artist involve the use of found materials that explore fantasies within the domestic sphere. Schoen’s work has participated in both solo and group exhibitions in Virginia and Colorado. Her awards include the Linda Holmgren Jensen Endowed Scholarship for the Arts, the University Village Center Public Sculpture Scholarship and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs LAS Faculty & Student Creative Works Grant.
Deborah Schoen, Altered series: Patch and flap, recycled clothing, cotton, wool, plastic buttons, 8″x17″, 2019.
See the work of Schoen and her fellow UCCS VAPA Seniors at Unapologetic. at GOCA Downtown (121 South Tejon, Suite 100) starting April 19th, and running through May 18th.