Deborah Paulsen (b. in 1970) in Spokane, Washington, explores nature-based themes inspired by the local fauna and scenery in Ventura, California. Her encaustic paintings express a deep connection to the natural environment and investigate color, form, and surface, creating fantastical shapes and luminescent surfaces with carved and built-up textures. Naturally derived encaustic paint is the perfect medium for Paulsen to create abstract paintings with emotional depth. The methods of adding layers, fusing, scraping, and carving the wax create movement and harmony.
Paulsen holds a Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Eastern Washington University. Over the last thirty years, Deborah Paulsen has exhibited her work in numerous venues, including site-specific installations. She collaborated with the Institute of Cultural Inquiry on projects including Artist Edition: Searching for Sebald, The AIDS Chronicles, and The Manual of Lost Ideas, all of which the Getty Research Institute acquired.
Most recently, Paulsen has been exhibiting work with the International Encaustic Artists, the Encaustic Art Institute, the Museum of Encaustic Art in Santa Fe, NM, and Raven's Gallery in Los Angeles.
Paulsen is a professor of art at Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar, CA, and lives North of Los Angeles in the small town of Fillmore, in Ventura County, CA.
