Deborah Randall grew up just outside of Washington D.C., and was lucky to spend as much time enjoying nature as she did inside the museums on the Mall. She was as interested in natural science as she was in art. The awe of a lit diorama, the raw bones and artifacts of history, the hushed tones of patrons, and the dark cavernous spaces containing moonstones and other marvels made their impression on her. Randall has a distinct memory of seeing an exhibition of Franz Kline paintings and thinking she understood them in a corporeal way; the physicality of the paint evidenced in layers of color spoke to her even as an eight year old. When she wasn’t making a mess with paint and paper, she spent countless hours in the backyard studying moss and insect covered logs with a magnifying glass. Polliwogs in mayonnaise jars were kept hostage at her bedside until they sprouted legs. These places from childhood inform the palette and the surface of her paintings. Randall earned an MFA in Painting in 1993 from Savannah College of Art and Design after receiving a BFA from California College the Arts. She was a professor for 18 years before opening the gallery and has taught at numerous colleges and universities along the east coast including Colby College, Georgetown University and University of Maine. She has exhibited both locally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions and in London and Germany. She received a grant for research from the Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and three artist’s grants for residencies at the Vermont Studio Center. Her work was chosen for the 2005 Portland Museum of Art Biennial. In the broadest sense, Randall’s work addresses the human condition as it relates to the experience of being, existence, the passage of time and mortality. More specifically, she is interested in exploring a dialogue between the physical and internal landscape. She is fortunate to live in a part of the country that is so picturesque, and is constantly aware of the natural beauty of Maine when she steps out the door every morning. The Maine coast and the tidal marshes nearby inspire many of her landscapes. She hopes to evoke the feeling of being present in the landscape by communicating the quality of light and color, the feel of the wind and vastness of space. She works from memory and intuition to convey atmospheric perspective and timelessness in nature. A painting evolves over time and often begins with one idea and by the end a new subject or theme emerges. A painting can be a record of a certain period that grows out of the process of searching and questioning, obscuring, and revealing. With subsequent layers exposed, then covered, the passage of time becomes evident in the work. She currently owns and runs a gallery in Lower Village, Kennebunk named, Deborah Randall Fine Art that features her landscapes of Maine.