Biography

Debra Ross’s unique art creations invoke more than just interest; they cause activation. With a wonderful creative energy that engages the viewer into understanding scientific processes, Debra's paintings are a most original expression of an idea to further interest the audience in the larger picture.

At first glance, the look and feel of a Ross painting seems unintentional, with fluid lines and colors. Then, the purpose presents itself as the mind begins to understand the representations.

Precursors, Processes, and Product is a triptych (a three-panel painting with an emphasized central element) that showcases Debra’s distinctive style. This triptych, which is on display at Drexel University, tells the story of three positive environmental product developments in modern chemical engineering by showing their life cycles.

Painting one shows the Precursors (including corn, sand, and rainforest) used in each technology. Painting two shows the Processes (power plant, computer chip processing, and medicine extraction from the Cinchona tree) that take these materials to make things. Painting three shows the final products (ethanol, internet, and medicine).

At the center of Processes, Ross painted a computer chip on top of a motherboard, to appear as if a liquid was moving them. The rainforest, from Precursors, continues in Processes, displaying a beaker that contains the bark from the Cinchona tree. Ross painted quinine’s molecular structure floating from the bark. Quinine was the first effective treatment for malaria.

Ross made the center panel, Processes, in the shape of a reactor, with a metal grid semicircle on both the top and bottom. A reactor is a vessel designed to contain and control chemical reactions.

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Debra Ross has 20 years of experience in creating and selling art. Her accomplishments include being selected as an Artist in Residence, in the Department of Arts, at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, where she mentored students while taking part in the “Renaissance Method” of painting, where students and instructors paint side by side. She has sold pieces of art that are currently displayed around the world and has created designs and logos for large companies and individual entrepreneurs.

Exhibitions

Debra J Ross

Art and Science

in collaboration with Steven P. Wrenn Ph.D.

September 4th – 30th, 2009

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Selected Works

Precursors, Processes, Product (2009)
36 x 60 inches, each