In the summer of 1956, Deborah L. Newton began her journey as an artist when she received a Katherine Lord Scholarship for art lessons at the Burpee Museum of Art (now RAM).
Nearly 30 years after that first art lesson sowed Deborah’s love for the arts, she committed to full-time art-making in 1984, establishing her roots in an artist's studio on Market Street in downtown Rockford. The studio allowed her to “create a place where art, the artist, and the public become one.” The building included tenant spaces for resident artists and creative professionals and a 501(c)(3) guest gallery that, over 21 years, hosted 80+ exhibitions for hundreds of visual artists.
Over the course of her career, Deborah estimated that she sold or gifted more than 3,000 paintings to homes, offices, collectors, and organizations around northern Illinois and beyond.
In 2021, she was posthumously awarded the Rockford Area Arts Council (RAAC) Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Her painting, Red on the Roof I, is part of RAM’s permanent collection.
Read more about Deborah L. Newton.