Debra Clem Bio
BIOGRAPHY
Debra Clem has exhibited in more than seventy group, invitational, and solo shows at the regional and national level since 1995. She has been the recipient of the Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council, as well as five individual grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
In addition, Debra has received many internal fellowships and grants from IU Southeast, where she is a full professor, heading the painting area in the fine arts program. She received the Museum Guild Purchase Award at the 55th Mid-States juried exhibition at the Evansville Museum in 2010 and has received residency fellowships to the Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
Clem was awarded the Distinguished Research and Creativity Award for senior faculty at IU Southeast in 2006. She was a graduate assistant at the Pennsylvania State University where she received her MFA degree in painting. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky and is the author of The Painting Guide.
PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS
Teaching
Debra heads the painting program at IU Southeast where she teaches all levels of painting. Both oil and acrylic media are taught in the program. Students explore a wide range of oil and acrylic processes and techniques, as well as styles including abstraction and representation. Students are encouraged to develop their own personal styles in painting.
Many IU Southeast BA and BFA painting graduates have been accepted in prestigious MFA programs, including the School of the Art institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.
Research
Debra Clem is interested in creating work that combines traditional techniques of oil painting with new technologies, such as digital imaging. Her large-scale, figurative paintings are created on canvas or canvas panel.
EDUCATION
The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania
Master of Fine Arts - Painting (Graduate Assistantship)
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio
Bachelor of Fine Arts (cum laude)
Areas of concentration: Painting and Drawing
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1995-Present Professor of Fine Arts, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, Indiana
2008 Visual Arts Consultant, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, Kentucky
2005-2007 Gallery Director, Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, Indiana
2002 Visual Arts Consultant, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, Kentucky
2002 Visual Arts Consultant, Louisville Visual Arts Association, Louisville, Kentucky
1996-98 Board Member, Floyd County Museum, New Albany, Indiana
1998 Visual Arts Consultant, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, Kentucky
1987-1995 Adjunct Faculty Member, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky
1990-91 Curator for Collective Contrasts, an exhibit of feminist art by 51 grant recipients of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, Kentucky
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023-24 Debra Clem, A Retrospective Exhibition 1995-2023, (solo exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast, (December 15-March 1)
2022 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast, (September 8-October 7)
"New Space!", (invitational exhibit), Garner Large, Louisville, KY, (opening Nov. 20)
Portraits, (solo exhibition), Artlink Contemporary Gallery, Ft. Wayne, IN (September 8- October 22) - https://www.artlinkfw.org/past
Artful Connections, (invitational exhibit), Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, (May 14-July 17) - https://omfa.us/exhibition/artful-connections-louisville-owensboro/#
2021 Surface and Illusion, (solo exhibition), Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, IN
2018 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
2018 Surfaces, (solo exhibition), Swanson Contemporary Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
2016 58th Mid-states Artists Exhibition, (juried) Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana
IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
2015-16 Photography Since the Millennium, invitational, Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, Indiana
2014 57th Mid-states Artists Exhibition, (juried) Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana
Louisville Visual Art Association’s Open Studio Weekend, Cressman Center of Art, University of Louisville
IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
Regional Impact: Faculty Work from IU Regional Campuses, Indiana University East, Richmond, Indiana
2013 Suspension, (solo exhibition), Swanson Contemporary Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
2012 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
2011 National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
2010-11 55th Mid-states Artists Exhibition, (juried) Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana
2010 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
Women Imaging Women, (invitational), PYRO Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
Transparency, (solo exhibition), Swanson Reed Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
2009 The Nude, (juried exhibition), The Lexington Art League, Loudon House, Lexington, Kentucky
2008 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
Uncommon Wealth, (traveling invitational), a traveling exhibition of work by selected Al Smith Fellows to nine museums in Kentucky (September 2007 through June 2008)
2007 Uncommon Wealth, (traveling invitational), a traveling exhibition of work by selected Al Smith Fellows to nine museums in Kentucky (September 2007 through June 2008)
Earth, PYRO Gallery, (invitational), Louisville, Kentucky
Faces in the Crowd, (invitational), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
2006 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
The Fourteenth Annual Jack E. Lunt Memorial Invitational Exhibit, (invitational), Ervin G. Houchens Gallery, Capitol Arts Center, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Uncommon Wealth: Legacy of the Kentucky Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship, Lexington Art League, Lexington, Kentucky
National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition at Hanover College, (group exhibition), Hanover College Art Gallery, Hanover, Indiana
2005 Lesbaroque, (solo exhibition) PYRO Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
Debra Clem and Georgia Strange, (two-person exhibition) SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
Female Nudes, PYRO Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
2004-05 52nd Mid-states Artists Exhibition, (juried) Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana
2004 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
Emergence, PYRO Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
2003 Small Works Exhibition, PYRO Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
New Members Exhibition, PYRO Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
8-Hour Drawings, VI, Bowman and Penelec Galleries, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania
National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
Food, Glorious Food, (invitational), Louisville Visual Arts Association, Louisville, Kentucky
2002 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ron L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
The Figure in Painting, (invitational). University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana
Faces, (invitational), Louisville Visual Arts Association, Louisville, Kentucky
National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
Debra Clem and Brian Jones, (two-person exhibition), Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana
2001 Kentucky’s Women Artists: 1850 to 2000, Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, Kentucky
National Affiliates Exhibition, SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New
Disco Erudio, (invitational), Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana
Off campus: IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Floyd County Museum, New Albany, Indiana
Debra Clem: Recent Work, (solo exhibition), Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio
2000 Debra Clem: Recent Work, (solo exhibition), Gallery Hertz, Louisville, Kentucky
Connections: National Affiliates Exhibition, (invitational), SOHO20 Gallery, New York, New York
Debra Clem, (solo exhibition), Bernheim Gallery, Bernheim Forest and Arboretum, Clermont, Kentucky
College and University Painting and Pottery Invitational, (invitational), University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana
IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ronald L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
1999 Debra Clem and Brian Jones, (two-person exhibit), Giles Gallery, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky
1998 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ronald L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
Debra Clem, (solo exhibition), Jewish Community Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Holiday Show, (affiliates exhibition) Gallery Hertz, Louisville, Kentucky
1997 Debra Clem, (solo exhibition), Duveneck Gallery, Carnegie Art Center, Covington, Kentucky
Debra Clem: Recent Work, (solo exhibition), Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, Indiana
Miriam Hill, Debra Clem, Erin Palmer, Jennifer Shircliff, (four-person exhibition), New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Harmony, Indiana
1996 IU Southeast Faculty Exhibition, (group exhibition), Ronald L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
Elements, (solo exhibition), Ronald L. Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast
1995 Good Dog, (invitational), Bank One Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
1994-1996 The Marriage Project, a collaborative series of exhibitions held at regional galleries and museums, including: the Indianapolis Art Center, the Louisville Watertower, the Midwest Museum of Art, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the Carnegie Arts Center.
1993 Portraits of Women, (solo exhibition), Covi Gallery, University of Louisville
1991 Collective Contrasts, (invitational), Zephyr Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky
1990 All Kentucky Women's Exhibition, (juried), Headley Whitney Museum, Lexington, Kentucky
Contradictions (juried), Artswatch, Louisville, Kentucky
Feminist Art by Louisville Artists, (invitational), Louisville Visual Art Association, Louisville, Kentucky
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2021 Grant-in-Aid, Indiana University Southeast
2020 Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2021)
2018 Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2019)
2019 Grant-in-Aid, Indiana University Southeast
2017 Grant-in-Aid, Indiana University Southeast
2015 Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2016)
2013 Summer Faculty Fellowship in Teaching, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2014)
2012 Grant-in-Aid, Indiana University Southeast
2010 The Museum Guild Purchase Award, 55th Mid-states Artists Exhibition, Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2011)
Individual Grant Award, The Kentucky Foundation for Women
Grant-in-Aid, Indiana University Southeast
Large Grant, Indiana University Southeast
2008 Summer Faculty Fellowship in Teaching, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2009)
2007 Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, Indiana University Southeast (for summer 2008)
2006 Distinguished Research and Creativity Award for Senior Faculty, Indiana University Southeast
2006 Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship, Kentucky Arts Council, Frankfort, Kentucky
2004 The Dorothea Schlecte Merit Award, 52nd Mid-states Artists Exhibition, Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
2003 Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, IU Southeast (summer 2004)
Partial Fellowship, The Vermont Center (summer 2003)
2002 Summer Faculty Fellowship for Research, IU Southeast (summer 2003)
Individual Grant Award, The Kentucky Foundation for Women
2001 Grant-in-Aid (2), Indiana University Southeast
Faculty Development Travel Grant, Indiana University Southeast
2000 FACET, (Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching), Indiana University
1999 Summer Faculty Fellowship, Indiana University Southeast
1998 Visual Artist Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia
TERA, (Teaching Excellence Recognition Award), IU Southeast
1997-1998 Strategic Directions Grant: IU Digital Art Workshop for IU Art Faculty, Project Director, Indiana University
1997 Improvement of Learning Grant, Indiana University Southeast
1996 Summer Faculty Fellowship, Indiana University Southeast
Grant-in-Aid, Indiana University Southeast
Individual Process Grant, The Kentucky Foundation for Women
1991 Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Individual Grant Award
1988 Visual Artist Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia
1990 -1987 Individual Grant Awards (consecutive), The Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, Kentucky
SABBATICALS FOR RESEARCH
Spring 2003
Spring 2011
Fall 2017
COLLECTIONS
Simon Sinek, New York, NY
Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN
Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, KY
PEOPLE POWERED PRINTS
Manuel Hernandez
May 5, 2020
What artists have influenced your work?
I love post-impressionist painting – but I also think Bouguereau was an awesome painter. He is a little bit sentimental – but I think he’s regained more respect these days than 40-50 years ago. He’s a great figurative realist. Also, John Singer Sargent is amazing. Among the living, I have always admired David Hockney (for the breadth of his ability and curiosity). I feel the same way about Gerhard Richter. I love painters who have control of the media, and I want to be surprised by variations in work and style. I get bored if I see someone doing the same thing for their entire lives. I also like Julie Heffernan, April Gornick, and Amy Sherald. I like artists who do their own painting, rather than work done in a production setting by a lot of different hired artists. The exception would be muralists – where it makes sense to have a lot of people involved. There are so many amazing artists in the world, and I am glad diversity has become important (unlike when I was school when white male artists of European descent pretty much dominated contemporary and historical painting).
What is the biggest painting you have done? What challenges come about making larger paintings. 84” x 90” and 117” x 55”. The physical parts are really challenging – building the panel or stretcher, handling the support, stretching, priming – all of that stuff. It’s backbreaking – and you need room to maneuver. Another huge issue is getting your body in front of areas – standing on a ladder is awful, especially for any detail. I’ve purchased scaffolding, built a platform for elevating my body while I work. Plus, storage and moving the work… and, who wants to buy a 10-foot painting anyway? I don’t recommend it – but on the other hand, working so large can be fun – you are swallowed by the surface, so you are definitely engaged in the process totally.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Always shoot for the best, don’t give up – something will happen if you hang in there. Don’t be discouraged by rejection (it happens more frequently than acceptance). Just try to seek honesty – be yourself in your work. Don’t try to imitate the fashionable art trends of the time (or what you think is fashionable). Work as hard as you possibly can. Don’t internalize the negative (it will grind you down), but find something useful in what people have to say about your work. It took me years to understand and to defend my own work. The world is big enough for lots of different styles, philosophies and approaches – so build your own path. I got distracted, because I worried too much about the validity of representational work in a modern context. I was too sensitive and sometimes lacked confidence in my natural stylistic tendencies. I lost a lot of time trying to run away from what I really wanted to do.
What do you aim to say with your work?
I want to do hard stuff – but I really want to capture the resonance of personality. I want images to draw in the viewer – and I want to create a vibration for the viewer. Yes, it’s about embracing skill, but the main goal is to do something beyond skill – post skill – something where the figure or portrait takes on a life of its own. Like virtual reality – but not. It’s weird, I know.
What was your experience in grad school? What are the pros and cons?
If you want to be an artist, grad school is usually a place that helps get you there. I knew I wanted to teach at the college level, so it was a necessity. I went to grad school a long time ago, and I assume a lot has changed. The cons - I had no women professors, and I felt unsupported as a figurative artist. I felt isolated at times. The pros – the degree allowed me to teach at the college level. I met other students who are still my friends. I saw a lot more art, and grew from that. I got better as a painter and absorbed many more influences and ideas. I had a graduate assistantship and grad school was basically free. I came out with no debt. Grad school allowed me to become singularly focused, I knew I had to make art. It sealed the deal for me.
What challenges come about making larger paintings?
The physical parts are really challenging – building the panel or stretcher, handling the support, stretching, priming – all of that stuff. It’s backbreaking – and you need room to maneuver. Another huge issue is getting your body in front of areas – standing on a ladder is awful, especially for any detail. I’ve purchased scaffolding, built a platform for elevating my body while I work. Plus, storage and moving the work… and, who wants to buy a 10-foot painting anyway? I don’t recommend it – but on the other hand, working so large can be fun – you are swallowed by the surface, so you are definitely engaged in the process totally.
Art: Not all is transparent in Debra Clem’s world
'Transparency' exhibit opens Friday
By Sara Havens
Feb 24, 2010 at 6:00 am
ZEON
Look up “transparent” in the dictionary, and it always comes back to light — admitting the passage of light, permitting light to pass through, etc. Indiana University Southeast fine arts professor and artist Debra Clem explores transparency in her new exhibit at Swanson Reed, but the word means much more to her than light — and sometimes conveys the opposite: darkness.
“Some of the pieces came from events I’ve tried to transcend — they’re spiritual,” she says of the large-scale, mixed-media works. “They’re about death, resurrection, restoration.”
Clem’s art has many layers, which is where transparency comes in. In this exhibit, she painted human figures over top of enlarged digital images. These images, most of them photographs she took, become a part of the human form — making it hard to tell where the painting stops and the photo begins.
Logan Stephens, Staff Reporter, November 17, 2019
‘Talent is a bad word’: The art of teaching and connecting with students
Fine arts professor Debra Clem discusses creative solutions from her students influencing her own work
Professor Debra Clem discusses what brings her joy in teaching as she shows off dozens of artworks created by both herself and her students.
The relationship between instructors and students was on full display as Debra Clem, fine arts professor and program coordinator, showed off dozens of works of art on Thursday, Nov. 14 to a group of students and fellow faculty.
Clem used the event, aptly named “Joy of Teaching,” to discuss what brings joy to her teaching.
She began the presentation with a self-quote that said she sees a “seamless relationship” between what she does as an artist and the knowledge she shares with her students. The quote ended by saying that she is a “far better artist” because of her students.
The art presentation went on as Clem discussed and showed off her early works as well as work from students. She then shared what she teaches, mentioning oil paintings and the first project being a black and white painting, where students “mix their own black.”
Clem mentioned some of her interests, including “a traditional approach,” “varying materials” and “non-traditional alternative media.” She went on to discuss her experiments with a former student named Jonathon Ruth before the invention of Photoshop.
Later, Clem talked about Samantha Dietz, a painting BFA student who taught herself — and then Clem — how to use encaustics. According to Clem, encaustics are an ancient wax painting process that is totally compatible with oil painting.
Clem said in the late 2000s, digital printing became affordable. This was nice, she said, because “digital images could be printed on canvas.”
She then discussed how she experiments with different techniques, including adding acrylic paste to her works for texture purposes.
Clem ended the presentation by showing some of her most recent works, where she is experimenting with tattoos. She is also painting on circular formats, an assignment she also gave to her students.
Takeaways From The Presentation
After the presentation, Clem said there are a few things she would like people to take away from her presentation. The first is about arrogance and collaboration with students.
“I always think that it is arrogant to think that you know everything about your field,” Clem said. “I know my field really well. I think I am a very good painter, but it is a lifetime discipline.”
“I think teaching is collaborative. With this, with the creative kind of thing, [students] have good ideas.”
The second takeaway Clem mentioned is about people using the word “talent.”
“The other takeaway is that the word talent is a bad word for me,” Clem said. “It is a bad word because it implies that this is not teachable.”
“I would not be at a university if I thought that [art] was a magical skill that people were born with. I can teach you to draw.”
“Anybody that wants to learn this can learn it. I think it is more of just the desire to learn.”
The takeaway for Brian Harper, associate professor of fine arts, was the interconnectedness between Clem’s work and her students’ work.
“I did not realize there was so much interconnectedness between her own work and her students’ work,” Harper said. “I knew it was there, but I did not know the extent of some of that.”
“Seeing her go back and forth between her students’ artwork and her own artworks and talking about the different ways they inspire each other was really cool,” he said.
