Debortina Studios

Artist Statement:

We are two- Debo and Tina. Although Tina refuses to call me Debo, to her I am Deb.  Thus we became Deb or Tina- Debortina. I thought long and hard about this name. I must have said it a thousand times-out-loud. the naming of an adventure like ours is very important. We have two very distinct skill sets and personalities. Together we are quite harmonious and copacetic. I love this word and i used for ten years before I actually looked up the definition. fortunately, I was surrounded by literary types at the time and I was correctly introduced to its proper usage. 

Although I am often the face of our studio, it takes two of us to make a whole. I make most of the larger pieces and I usually go solo to the shows while Tina is back at the studio doing the important work- managing the studio, managing me, managing our menagerie of dogs, and managing the money. In addition to these small tasks, she is also communicating with you. She is the voice of the studio. I just make the work.

Together, we bounce around creative ideas and come up with new colors and patterns for the clay along with ideas for the paintings. She makes the smaller pieces and together we finish everything else. She cooks-I don't. I'm loud-she's not. She's organized-I'm not. I totally drive her crazy but she woefully acknowledges my creative leadership(hehe). We laugh a lot -with and -at each other, and neither of us can carry a tune. Its a perfect union.