Today we’d like to introduce you to Debi Slowey-Raguso.
Hi Debi, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I live and work in the Tampa Bay region, the “Nature Coast” of Florida. Beauty with intellect is my passion. I studied painting at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and aesthetics at the Barnes Foundation School of Art.
For nearly two decades, I lived and worked in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, having many a job to survive as a painter Fine Artist and exhibiting my paintings; from fashion model to roofing contractor. I learned historical fine printmaking techniques from Bob Blackburn, a MacArthur Fellow, and was introduced to the international art world by a beautiful relationship with artist Will Barnet.
I moved to the sunshine of Florida near my parent’s home after 911 and deciding that it was time to live in a cleaner place where I could stay healthier longer in life. Don’t get me wrong, my beloved Manhattan is visited often, and it has become my most important business partner as an artist.
In Florida, I found it hard to recreate the buzz and business in art as I was developing in NYC, so I went back to school and became a humanities worker- a Registered Nurse. The privilege of being a helper to people in life’s very trying moments is not only an honor, but it inspires ideas about the beauty in life and the preciousness of how we spend our time here. It has been hard to balance the two worlds of medicine and art, but I have never stopped in my painting practice and have gained enough skills in nursing to be in demand.
I am studying to be financially literate and have used local SCORE mentors. I can get by with only one day a week of nursing and focus on becoming the entrepreneur that an artist must evolve into if they desire others to see and enjoy their artworks.
My paintings tell the viewer stories about myths and legends, living in a moment, in an imagined space, yet rooted in mathematical principles and formulas. The Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Ratio, Phi paired with Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity inform my work. The stories can occur in the past or the future but live in the now as an immersive experience.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I am the type of person who looks at the glass as half full, so it is challenging to think of the rough times that demanded resilience for growth to achieve goals. This process does not happen without failures. The worst part of being Creative is rejection; it feels like a failure, but I have been able to muscle through it.
It still hurts when the prize, grant, or sale doesn’t come through, no matter how intellectually prepared. Once, I was anonymously nominated for a Louis Comfort Tiffany prize that would have made a substantial difference in not only my financial health but would have added a highly sought-after professional endorsement. Through my struggles, I have learned that artists need multiple income streams.
I have struggled to learn ways to earn besides selling my paintings and depending on others: teaching, licensing, publishing, speaking, and now even putting NFT’s up for auction. Investing time for success is essential. I struggle with time because it is finite. Nursing pays the bills, which is an extraordinary profession only to work 12 hours a week. The money struggle does have one slight twist; I was born a female statically making 80 cents on the dollar.
Always looking for a way to remedy this injustice, I joined The Women’s Caucus for Art as a member of the National Board. I have been coaching myself lately by listening to books and watching media to become more financially literate and look to many woman pioneers in that field for guidance.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Artists often struggle to explain their modus operandi, so I would like to place a written statement about my artwork that I collaborated with a professional arts writer for a recently self-published picture book. I have learned you can not do everything by yourself, especially if you can work with someone that makes the job lighter and enjoys their work.
Although these are not all my words, it does contain my quote. Many thanks and credit cited to professional author John Seed for his work on my book introduction. When looking over the paintings of Slowey-Raguso, you may come across a figure you recognize from Greek mythology: perhaps Artemis, Daphne, or Apollo.
Then again, you might also see Albert Einstein’s thinking, Joan of Arc’s determination, or a might blue whale in harmony with the oceans. The artist’s fantastic mix of imagery- derived from myths, science, and personal experience- emanates from a personal pantheon that illustrates what Slowey-Raguso calls a “humanistic conviction of faith”. Ancient stories, Catholic notables, and flash insights from the artist’s lucid dreams also make appearances in her charmingly idiosyncratic and almost psychedelically vivid works.
In one recent canvas, a sign in the Sky of Something Somewhere Else, a yellow octopus with red spots sprawls in the lower left, unfurling its tentacles, an emblem of limited, deadly beauty. Beyond it, a Fibonacci spiral winds towards a distant vast universe (Orion) overseen by a dolphin and her calf, a symbol of motherly intelligence. Mathematically charged rectangles, filled with strong colors of emerald green, deep blue, and bright yellow ground the composition. Adding to the pure sensation of the piece, the effects of bright oil colors are supplemented by other materials: crystals, gold leaf, and flocking.
Slowey-Raguso explains the inherently mathematical (and abstract) underpinnings of her art in this way: “I have a firm conviction that a painting can be composed to bring a person a sense of awe and wonder by a visual, in your face composition. Kind of like a collective unconscious of Jung but not cerebral but visual when we pick up a seashell and see it as beautiful; why is a “perfect rose” perfect? A symphony is different from a waltz because of some innate, underlying structure.
In my painting, these structures lie in numbers: Fibonacci and the geometric manifestation of Fibonacci, a Logarithmic spiral, not the “rule of thirds.” The law of chance is also married to it and can be understood by the patterns, or un-patterns, in fractals”. Taking from a variety of myths and assembling her own is Slowey-Raguso’s ongoing personal project. “Your life and time,” she explains, “can appear in a painting to help you feel depth again, and to explain why you felt a certain way in the past.”
It is that sense of underlying emotion, transmitted through personal symbols, that charges each painting with its singular beauty. The artist and painter is a creator who is infinitely moved by Creation and who has found a way to share that sense of awe through her art.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I indeed have been blessed by great mentors. When I lived in Manhattan, I was the daughter-in-law to Will Barnet, a very distinguished and brilliant artist. He was my professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art and is a National Medal of Arts recipient, among other accolades. Will Barnet continued to help me find my artistic voice and style, and he introduced me to many people who could help in my art career.
He introduced me to Bob Blackburn at his printmaking atelier, where I went beyond learning techniques to print to be given responsibilities of a workshop environment and also how to run an art gallery. I was introduced to many vetted art dealers of fairness and knowledge and met and worked for Sylvan Cole. Sylvan gave me many responsibilities in the International Fine Print Dealers Association, which he was president of at the time.
Besides sales, I was cataloging and was entrusted with the art of great values from his vast collection to protect. I say to young persons looking to succeed in any field to reach out, trust your instincts, work hard and be flexible with pay because the experiences of the diverse responsibilities you can be given have great value. At this time, I am living outside of a big city, and I use, and I always recommend people look into their municipality’s small business administration’s SCORE mentors.
501 3c; they are mostly retired executives who provide free service that helps people in business. My mentor Bruce Elliott has helped me navigate numerous business obstacles and is always available to discuss creative ideas.
Pricing:
- Original Art 500- 5000 USD
- limited Edition Prints 80- 160 USD
- Online teaching @ 85 USD per-class
Contact Info:
- Email: deb@debslowey.com
- Website: https://www.debslowey.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debslowey/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistdebbie/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/artistnurse
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/debbieslowey
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/debslowey/
Image Credits
Artfinity Huth & Booth
