Today we’d like to introduce you to Debra Vanderlaan.
Debra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The Valley River Arts guild began as a fledgling group of local artists that had a mission to showcase the art of local artists and crafters, organize events to bring art to the community, and have our county and city of Murphy become an art destination. In just ten years, the guild has grown from 15 members to almost 50, occupying the largest historic building downtown Murphy and creating the Murphy Art Center, offering classes for children and adults, showcasing the art of local and regional artists, and creating a monthly First Friday Art Walk for the downtown merchants, local community, and visitors to our area. With the hard work and support of our members, our patrons of the arts, and the visitors that are drawn to our town, the art center has become the anchor for downtown and a very appreciated force for economic growth to our merchants and locale residents.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Providing a retail gallery for our member artists without having any grants or financial assistance to help with expenses, staffing, and rent has always been a challenge. Our members are required to work at least one day per month to staff the gallery as well as to join and work on one of our committees. In order to raise funds, one of our committees is the Fundraising committee which organizes fundraisers several times a year such as our Annual Silent Auction, Tag Sales, Nifty/50 Sale, and our Hearts for the Arts program. Sometimes it is difficult to get members to lead our committees such as the Membership committee in charge of the staffing schedule for the gallery and training new members, the Education committee that oversees the classes and teachers, the Financial committee that pays bills and consignment checks, the Store committee that hangs the art, cleans and organizes the gallery and dresses the windows, the Communication committee that contacts the newspapers and sends out our monthly newsletter to the public, and the Art Walk committee to orchestrate this big event each month. It is a huge enterprise to run the big Murphy Art Center with all volunteers.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As the President of the Valley River Arts Guild, I feel that I am very equipped to be the leader of our organization because of my 30 years retail floral shop owner background and career, as well as my involvement in the arts through my website, in the gallery, entering art competitions, and serving on the boards of other local art and culture organizations. I am a people person and well-versed in accounting and the creative side of business.
I specialize in photography and digital art and am well-known for my digital composites of old trucks and barns as well as beautiful tropical beach photography and interesting digital art for all types of worldwide licensed products, particularly for puzzles, prints, cards, and fabrics. I am very proud of how far I have developed my art in just a short ten years, being completely self-taught with Photoshop, Lightroom, and other software digital art programs.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Surprisingly as an artist, my favorite subjects in school were Math as well as Creative Writing. I was also born with a competitive gene, having raced road bicycles for almost 20 years and winning the Masters’ Cycling Nationals, as well as being fairly fluent in French, having studied that beautiful language for seven years.
Contact Info:
- Email: vraginc@gmail.com
- Website: www.ValleyRiverArts.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ValleyRiverArtsGuild
Image Credits
Debra Vanderlaan Celebrate Life Gallery
