Artists selected for the 2009 BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass are:

Artist Statement
My current work is cast glass and mixed media sculpture presented in the form of scaled iconic monuments. It comments on sugarcoated truths and the manipulation of desire and belief. My most recent activity has been an exploration into the nature of belief. As a maker it is my intent to communicate with and make sense of the essential discrepancies between appearance and reality.

Biography
Debra Ruzinsky was born in the Midwest but has spent most of her life at the edges of the US. She received her B.A. in Design at the University of California at Los Angeles, and her MFA in glass sculpture at RIT. She has been awarded scholarships from the Studio at Corning, the Glass Art Society, and the Penland School of Craft and has taught at the University of Oregon Craft Center and O AT KA Glass School. Debra was Visiting Assistant Professor of Glass at the Rochester Institute of Technology for the 2008-2009 Academic calendar year.  She will teach at the Studio at Corning in February 2010. Her work is included in the RIT Wallace Library Purchase Prize Collection, the Seto City Museum Collection, and the Glasmeseet Ebeltoft in Denmark. Debra was an invited artist in residence at the Seto International Ceramic and Glass Art Exchange program in Seto, Japan from July – August, 2008.

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Education
MFA, Glass Sculpture, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008
Glass Casting Workshop with Daniel Clayman at Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY
Glass Casting Workshop with David Reekie at the Penland School of Craft
Glass Casting Workshop with the Higuchis at the Studio at CMOG, Corning, NY
Glass Casting Workshop with Anna Boothe at the Pittsburgh Glass Center
B.A., Design, Cum Laude, UCLA (studied glass with Richard Marquis and Therman Statom)

Teaching Experience
2008 - 2009  Visiting Assistant Professor of Glass, Rochester Institute of Technology, (sabbatical replacement for professor Michael Rogers)

2009    Workshop Instructor, Introduction to Lost Wax Casting at O AT KA Glass Studio, Batavia, NY
Teaching Assistant to Jeremy Lepisto and Mel George, RIT visiting artist workshop
Teaching Assistant to Erika Tada, Pate de Verre technique, RIT visiting artist workshop

2007-2008  Adjunct Instructor of glass elective. Instructor of sophomore and junior level glass casting courses, RIT Rochester, NY
Instructor, glass casting workshop, University of Oregon Craft Center, Eugene, Oregon
Adjunct Co-instructor (with Jeremy Griffith) of glass elective, Rochester,NY
Instructor of rubber mold-making, lost wax, glass casting,
T.A. for glass elective class, RIT, Rochester, NY

Selected Exhibitions
2009    “R U Evolved?  Artists Reflect on Darwin @ 200” exhibition, curated by Sheila Pinkel, Mark Vallen, and Paul Von Blum, at A Shenere Velt Gallery at the Arbeter Ring, Workmen’s Circle, Los Angeles, CA
Seto City Museum Artist in Residence Exhibition

2008    Faculty Exhibition, Bevier Gallery, RIT Campus, Rochester, NY, Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Craft
Sweet Reassurance: An MFA Thesis Exhibition at the School of American Craft, Rochester Institute of Technology, NTID Dyer Art Center Ohringer Gallery

2003    AMERICA, Juried by Wesley Jessup, Executive Director, The Pasadena Museum of California Art, at The Second City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA

2002    Viewpoint Ceramics, Juried by David McFadden, Chief Curator, American Craft Museum,NY, shown at Hyde Art Gallery, Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA

2002    Handcrafted, Juried by Ron Meyers, Rocky Mount Arts Center, North Carolina
Shreveport Art Guild 60th National Exhibition, Meadows Museum of Art, Centenary College of Louisiana, curated by Fritz Scholder

Awards and Honors
2009    UrbanGlass MFA Exhibition 2009 Finalist:  One of 4 finalists with work exhibited in the Robert Lehman Gallery at Urban Glass, Brooklyn, New York,  January-March

2008    Invited Artist in Residence, July 1-August 5, 2008, Seto International Ceramic & Glass Art

2008-2000  Exchange Program. Work included in the Seto City Museum Permanent Collection, Seto, Japan
The RIT Wallace Library Purchase Prize Award
Sculpture purchase for inclusion in the Wallace Library Purchase Prize Collection, Rochester, NY
Glass Art Society Scholarship for the 2008 GAS Conference

2007    Corning Museum of Glass, Full Scholarship for Higuchi Workshop
Penland School of Craft, Partial Scholarship for David Reekie Workshop
Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark, Permanent Collection

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