Born in Oakland, California, of Swedish heritage, Debra Jewell is a landscape architect, printmaker, and visual artist. She received her Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and has practiced landscape architecture for over twenty years.

In her current body of work, Jewell addresses the sense of place found between the physical realm and memory. She strives to capture the experience of place in transition – in wilderness and in the urban landscape – and render a sense of that experience in the printed image. These transitional spaces recall memory while shifting the focus towards imagination.

Working primarily with monotype and drypoint techniques, Jewell prints in her own studio using an etching press, and exhibits her work in the San Francisco Bay Area and the United Kingdom. Her work is held in both private and public collections including the Library of Congress. She is an artist member and has served on the Board of Directors of the California Society of Printmakers.

Jewell's maternal great-grandparents and paternal grandparents emigrated from central Sweden to the United States during the late 1880's and early 1900's. The earlier immigrants settled in Des Moines, Iowa, while the latter came to Oakland, California. During Jewell's childhood, time spent with family on the lakes of northern Minnesota, as well as travel to Sweden, reinforced her connection to her Scandinavian heritage. She still maintains close ties to her extended family in Sweden through travel, genealogical research and documentation.

Debra Jewell

e-mail: debra@debrajewell.com
web site: http://www.debrajewell.com