Debra Van Swearingen
Debra Van Swearingen has had a passion for photography since the age of 12. While working for the Department of Defense in government contracts, she took photography classes at the Oklahoma School of Photography. It was after a year of cancer remediation in 1995 that Debra decided to make her passion her profession. She established a studio in the artistically vibrant Paseo District of Oklahoma City in 1997 and has been producing art photography ever since.
Debra loves to photograph nature, as well as ornate architectural lines. She works with Polaroid film, using tools to manipulate the images during the emulsion and development process to give the prints a patina and infuse them with mood and emotion. Debra also hand-colors black and white photographs using a special fiber paper, oils and pencils to alter the focal point of the photos while being true to the original composition.
She derives inspiration from Renoir, Monet and Rembrandt for their use of color, lighting, composition and subtleties of technique. She also counts photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston among her mentors.
Debra displays her work in her studio/gallery in Paseo, and participates in local arts festivals. She has received awards from the Center for Visual Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Firehouse Arts Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The youngest of three children from Shawnee, Oklahoma, Debra moved to Norman to attend the University of Oklahoma and has lived there ever since. She met Greg, her husband of 16 years, there. Together they have a teenage daughter plus three grown boys from Greg’s previous marriage. Debra enjoys working on her home as well as raising her daughter, and manages to fit in time to garden, travel and go boating.