about
A six-year self-directed apprenticeship
1973-79- pottery school VSA 1979-82 BFA, ECUAD,
2005 President – North-West Ceramics Foundation
2010 – BC Arts Council grant & scholarship – Circle Craft Co-op – Hungarian residency
2014 – Ontario Clay & Glass scholarship – a Leach Pottery residency
2015 – The Hilde Gerson Award (CCBC) and the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award Attended 8 residencies.
2019/2020, Installation, Koerner Gallery, MOA, Playing With Fire
2019 – Canada Council Grant, Shigaraki, Japan, residency
2022 – CCBC/ JOE INK Dance company, performances, Dance /Craft
2022 – CCBC published her online BC Ceramic Mark Registry, assisted – Allan Collier
2023 – Awarded Best of Show in FIREWORKS, Ontario Clay and Glass Association.
2024 – writer’s residency at the Wallace Stegner House, in Eastend Saskatchewan.
2016 – 2025, as an arts representative, with Craft Council of BC and Douglas College, McGill/SSHRC project, IMPACTS, BC crafts exhibition, Walking Alongside Trauma, Douglas College & in Montreal
artist statement
Debra Sloan has been engaged in a 50-year community-based practice, teaching clay sculpture, 1991-2013 at Shadbolt Centre, other community centres, MISSA & the Leach Pottery. Served and adjudicated for CCBC, Circle Craft, PGBC, NWCF Boards – currently president, & the Filbert, Sunshine Art Gallery, & Sydney Art Exhibition. Presented – Malaspina, Canadian Clay & Master’s symposiums, the 9th Cluj symposium-Romania, & the Leach Pottery, TATE St. Ives. Represented at SOFA, Chicago, & in 6 LARK 500 publications.
I exhibit locally, nationally, and internationally & am very interested in collaborative projects.
Married, and a parent of 4 children and now 5 grandchildren.
I draw upon human imagery, or various animals, to navigate the interconnectivity between the human and natural worlds. Over time, my human figures have transformed into what I refer to as “proto-human”. My works are situated within metaphorical constructs, outside of how they are normally encountered.
