| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Combining her extensive experience in fine arts, commercial design, and brand management, Debra Bachman is an accomplished creative professional and member of Edmonton’s vibrant arts community, while having decades of experience operating Debra Bachman Smith Art + Design.
Bachman’s education is as varied as her artistic career. She earned a diploma in Visual Arts Communications from MacEwan University (1983), and completed courses and workshops at the U of A’s Faculty of Extension (1990, 1998), followed by summer series at Red Deer College (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). She has taken studies in Community Economic Development focusing on Social Economy and Marketing (2011 – 2012). She’s worked as a Senior Graphic Designer for the Edmonton Public School Board, the Office of Public Affairs for the University of Alberta and Studio 3 Graphics, and as a Brand and Creative Services Manager for Norquest College in Edmonton.
Bachman has mounted solo exhibitions in Edmonton including The Language of Flowers at Café Select and the mixed media series In Search of Lost Time at the Visual Arts Alberta Association. Describing the aesthetic goals of that show, whose paintings and photographs have been “layered, eroded, sanded, and scraped” over several years, Bachman says she wanted “to explore memory and the illusion of permanence through the lens of portraiture… in the spirit of Romanticism, longing for a past ideal, both beautiful and magical.” The series draws its visual inspiration from Bachman’s colleagues, friends, and family, as a well as from the artist’s 2005 visit to England’s National Portrait Gallery.
In addition to participating in more than a dozen group shows in Edmonton such as Diversity at The Works Art and Design Festival and Naked Show at Harcourt House Arts Centre, and also Out of Bounds at the Muse Gallery in Grande Prairie, Bachman has been a member of several organisations including the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, the University and College Designers Association, and Canadian Artists’ Representation. In 2011 she received a nomination for Edmonton’s PACE Award at the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts (2011). |