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Deborah Tomlin

Drawing, Painting, Visual / Media

Awards Received

Individual Artist

2019

About the Artist

Deborah Tomlin is a painter who relishes the feel of brushstrokes and vibrant color in her paintings. Tomlin grew up in Maryland. In 2008 she returned to her childhood home where she currently lives with her husband, two school-age children, and her aging parents. Raising children and caring for elderly parents informs her work with common themes to our human experience such as aging, loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence. Repetition and closely cropped compositions help convey this emotional content in her paintings. Deborah Tomlin earned a BFA in painting and drawing from The Pennsylvania State University, located in State College PA and an MFA from Wayne State University, in Detroit, Michigan.

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Artist's Statement

My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. I live with my husband, our two school-aged children, and my elderly parents. I am proud to be a nurturer and caregiver to both generations but also overwhelmed and afraid that I will facilitate their journey at the expense of my own. My relationship with my mother is an integral part of my exploration. She embodies the traditional roles of mother, wife, a grandmother with grace and honor. However, my mother’s identity is defined by these caregiving roles. As I also age, I ask myself, how can I meet the needs of my children and my parents with compassion and love without losing my own voice?  Can I balance my desire to nurture those I love dearly with my desire for autonomy? My recent paintings feature both my mother and father. These paintings depict their vulnerability and inactivity. The loss of cognitive and physical abilities from a stroke and facial muscles atrophied from Bell's palsy. My paintings also speak to the relentlessness of caregiving, the joy of caring for the vulnerable ones we love, but the exhaustion too. I am also aware I am setting an example for my daughter. She becomes a caregiver too in paintings cutting Papa’s hair and helping him with his puzzles. Can I shift this narrative away from self-sacrifice as the highest calling of women?  This time of COVID has only amplified Mom and Dad’s fragility and need. The heightened danger of the outside world and other people has intensified their need for protection. Their presence has expanded and I feel overlapped and pushed from the picture plane. The close-cropped compositions in my paintings depict this tension, capturing the fragility of caregiving in these intimate personal moments for any caregiver.    

Featured Work

Photos

My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. My paintings often depict either or both of my elderly parents, their vulnerability and need for care. In this image Papa, who has lost some cognitive abilities from a stroke, does a brain exercise with his granddaughter's help and encouragement.
My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. I am sandwiched between caring for my two school aged children and my elderly parents. I am proud to be a nurturer and caregiver to both generations but also overwhelmed and afraid that I will facilitate their journey at the expense of my own. This self-portrait series depict the tension and complex emotions experienced by any caregiver, especially in this time of COVID where the elderly are the most vulnerable.
My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. I am sandwiched between caring for my two school aged children and my elderly parents. I am proud to be a nurturer and caregiver to both generations but also overwhelmed and afraid that I will facilitate their journey at the expense of my own. This self-portrait series depict the tension and complex emotions experienced by any caregiver, especially in this time of COVID where the elderly are the most vulnerable.
My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. I am sandwiched between caring for my two school aged children and my elderly parents. I am proud to be a nurturer and caregiver to both generations but also overwhelmed and afraid that I will facilitate their journey at the expense of my own. This self-portrait series depict the tension and complex emotions experienced by any caregiver, especially in this time of COVID where the elderly are the most vulnerable.
My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. I am sandwiched between caring for my two school aged children and my elderly parents. I am proud to be a nurturer and caregiver to both generations but also overwhelmed and afraid that I will facilitate their journey at the expense of my own. This self-portrait series depict the tension and complex emotions experienced by any caregiver, especially in this time of COVID where the elderly are the most vulnerable.
My paintings are defined by loss, gender, identity, independence/dependence, universal themes and autobiographical ones. I am sandwiched between caring for my two school aged children and my elderly parents. I am proud to be a nurturer and caregiver to both generations but also overwhelmed and afraid that I will facilitate their journey at the expense of my own. This self-portrait series depict the tension and complex emotions experienced by any caregiver, especially in this time of COVID where the elderly are the most vulnerable.