Deborah Hurtt

Deborah Hurtt considers a quote in her studio, which reads, “Making Matters.” More specifically, she asks, "Does making art really matter?" Can a painting cause one to stop, if just for a second, to take notice and see something in a different way? That is what she wants her painting to do, and what she wants to do with her painting.

Hurtt is an emerging artist who paints in oil and gouache. Working outdoors (en plein air) whenever possible, she explores her lifelong fascination with the interplay between humans and the land, something she finds can be plainly evident and elusive at the same time. As such, her paintings. mostly landscapes, move between the real and the abstract. More immediately, she immerses herself in the process of painting. Whether it involves the feel of moving the paint around, the discovery of new colors from just a few tubes, or a step beyond her comfort zone to experiment with a new technique, this focus on practice is where her day-to-day painting happens. Once she sees how her choices of composition, or value, or mark-making, for example, come together, she is reminded that making art does, indeed, matter. The act of painting changes the way she sees the world and when her art moves her viewers in even a small way, she is all the more gratified.

Hurtt received the first-place award in “Free for All,” a juried show hosted by the Capitol Hill Art League (CHAL) in 2023; and a second-place award in an open exhibit at the Capitol Hill Art Workshop (CHAW) in 2019. She has exhibited in several other juried shows hosted by CHAL; the Art League, Alexandria, VA; and the Hill Center and the Dumbarton Oaks United Methodist Church, both in Washington, DC. She has studied at the Art League; at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD; and in mid-coast Maine under Bernard Dellario, Ken deWaard, Mary Beth Gaiarin, Pattee Hipschen, Bethanne Kinsella-Cople, and Björn Runquist. Prior to making art, Deborah pursued an academic career. With a BA in art history from Williams College and a PhD in architectural history from the University of Virginia, she has taught at the Universities of Virginia and Oregon. More recently, she served as a senior program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), where she made grants in art history, the environmental humanities, and geography and landscape studies. You can find her selling her paintings and talking with neighbors at her pop-up table near Capitol Hill’s Lincoln Park, and exploring the Maine coast from her easel or kayak.

Contact Deborah Hurtt

Email: dhurtt@gmail.com

Instagram: @dhurtt2018

Cell: 541-510-5434