Deb Berkebile

dberkebile@roadrunner.com

facebook.com/DebBerkebile

instagram.com/sassieakadeb

mountaintrailquilttreasure.blogspot.com

I am an artist with an extensive background in textiles and quilt making.  More recently, I have been exploring surface design and multi-media artwork. My artwork has been nationally exhibited.  In 2016, I had artwork juried into The Lion King: Cherrywood Fabrics Challenge, My award winning quilt was one of the finalists selected by Disney Theatrical Group to be exhibited at Minskoff Theatre, NYC, in November of 2017.  My quilts Galileo Inspiration and Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong’s First Step on the Moon are part of an exhibit called Fly Me to the Moon. My piece, Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong’s First Step on the Moon was invited by NASA and NASA ISS Communication representative Gordon Andrews to exhibit in Space for Art, at NASA Space Center Houston in Houston TX and was on exhibit from Jan 23-March 19, 2017. My quilt, The Painted Desert, was juried into the prestigious Quilts=Art=Quilts: 35th QAQ Exhibit; Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY 2016.
I am a naturalist and environmentalist at heart. My current body of work explores satellite imagery and creating false color artistic depictions of remote sensed satellite images (Geographical Information Systems).  I have six quilts in my “Earth in Three Bands: R, G, B” Series: The Painted Desert, Eye of Sahara, The Great Salt Desert, Susitna Glacier, The Grand Canyon and Galileo Inspiration. The vivid colors and their outstanding variations are what first drew me to these representations. I am also using other remote sensed imagery taken from our National Parks in my art. My first quilt in this series was inspired from a thermal image of an eruption of Old Faithful taken in Yellowstone National Park.  
I am also interested in political activism. I am preparing a series of works to be considered for a juried show about Civil Rights. My pieces feature quilts about Martin Luther King, Sitting Bull and Suffragettes.
I am creating many of my fabrics to use in my design process. I use surface design techniques, hand-dyeing and painted fabric, and digital manipulation of images to be printed on fabric that can then be used with commercial fabric. I enjoy the challenges of creating original artwork that combine my passions and interests.