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| Deborah Halpern |
| At her home in the leafy town of Warrandyte, this artist creates fanciful beasts inspired by Picasso. |
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Deborah Halpern is a mosaic artist. At her home in Victoria's bushy Warrandyte, her huge mosaic sculptured figures are surrounded by eucalypts and wisteria. The setting is a far cry from that of her most recent exhibition at Canada's Buschlen Mowatt Gallery. But it is here, at her small private home, that Deborah gives her fanciful beasts life.
Deborah is inspired by the free spirit of Pablo Picasso. She has been passionate about her form of art for the past 20 years and has pieces on display throughout the country. Sketches and drawings for her current work line the desk in her studio. It is a ceramic mural for the Australian National University of Canberra.
Another of Deborah's works is the huge double-headed, three-armed giant, titled Angel, which stands in the moat of the National Gallery of Victoria. Her sculpture Ophelia, situated in Melbourne's Southbank, was named the official face of Melbourne by Tourism Victoria in 1996.
Deborah usually begins her mosaic work with sketches, although not all pieces are planned. Next, the figure is created from steel mesh and sprayed with expanding foam. Deborah then carves the shape of her piece and covers it with a fibro-glass skin. Finally, ceramic tiles are adhered to the skin to create the mosaic sculpture.
Deborah believes her work is a joyful expression of her life — wacky designs created for absolutely no reason. She has a passion for everything she makes, whether it be large public sculptures for the city of Melbourne or a mural in the local schoolyard.
All Deborah's pieces are decorated with a "big face." This is her signature and it gives her artworks life and emotion. Her individualism and creative talent was recently recognised when her work was featured in America's prestigious Architectural Digest magazine.
As for the future — Deborah hopes to create inflatable sculptures the size of buildings and send them out to sea to travel the world.
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More Info
Deborah Halpern's work is exhibited at:
Christine Abrahams Gallery
27 Gipps Street
Richmond Vic
Ph: 03 9428 6099
Contact the gallery if you wish to commission to do a piece of work.
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