We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Deby Gilley . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Deby below.

Deby , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents provided a space for me to create art at a young age. That space grew into a more businesslike studio after my Dad allowed me to use a portion of his warehouse used by the family trucking business. I created art in that studio in high school and throughout my college years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My first career was serving as an art teacher. I taught in three different public schools in South Central Missouri for 25 years. As an art teacher, I produced a small volume of many kinds of art that was mainly used for examples to my students. After my 13th year of teaching, I started graduate school, where I took a life-changing relief-printmaking course. For the next 12 years I produced a meager quantity of Linocut an Woodcut prints. But after retiring from the Public School System, the production greatly increased.
I continued to teach as an adjunct instructor at SBU in Bolivar; teaching several art classes including printmaking.
As I built a large enough body of work, I began to apply to art fairs, such as ArtsFest in Walnut Street, to sell my prints.
In 2006 and 2007, the Second Baptist Church sponsored an art show called “Connections.” Workshops were also provided for the artists to “connect “ to the creativity of other artists in the area and to “connect” to the highest Creator of all. Being juried into that show both years opened up several opportunities to have solo shows in Springfield.
Being involved in art groups, such as the Visual Artist Alliance of Springfield, the Springfield Regional Arts Council, and a juried member of the Best of Missouri Hands has also provided opportunities for solo shows in the community and throughout the state.
I continue to do art fairs at least once a month during the Spring, Summer and Fall, and my art is sold at Waverly House Gifts and Gallery in Springfield.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I remember a particular ArtFest where it snowed while the artist were setting up on Walnut Street. It was a cold opening day on Saturday with the temperature only reaching 55 degrees with very little sun. Needless to say, the crowd was minimal and so were the sales. The temperature rose to higher degrees on Sunday, and the crowd increased, but the total sales barely covered my expenses. However, on that Sunday, a young lady of the approximate age of 19 came into my booth looking wide-eyed at my prints on display. She then asked if I was the artist. I said yes, and she said she had to tell me a story about my art if she could do so without crying. She commenced to tell me that her grandmother had bought one of my prints at a previous ArtsFest. Then, with tears in her eyes, she told me that her grandmother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had just been put into a nursing home. Her grandmother was given a choice of what she wanted with her…she only picked out four things and my print was one of them. The young lady said, “ I just wanted to let you know that your art meant something to a mind that is slipping away.” Well, even though my sales were down, that story meant much more. It showed me that making art more meaningful is worth more than just selling it.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I had always planned on teaching as an adjunct until I was 65. Those plans changed when my husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. Although the surgery was successful in getting all of the cancer, it made me want to be more attentive to him. I quit teaching altogether in the Fall of 2018, and this has freed me up to do more art shows.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Linocut and Woodcut Prints by Deby Gilley at the Lone Starr Studio