Deborah Thompson is a multidiscpilinary visual artist of Scottish, Dutch and French settler ancestry. It is with gratitude that she makes her home on the unceded lands of the Sn̓ʕaýckstx, Syilx and Ktunaxa. in the Tum xula7xw of the sn ayc’ kstyx territory, otherwise known as Nelson, British Columbia.
She holds a degree from the Ontario College of Art and Design (University)1984. a B.A. in Southwest Cultural Studies from Prescott College, AZ 1989 and an MFA in painting from the University of Montana, 1997.
She moved to Nelson, BC in 1999 where she began a studio practice, taught for the Kootenay School of Art and co-founded the Oxygen Art Centre. Her practice includes; painting, drawing, sculpture and most recently, Stop Motion Animation. She has exhibited throughout southern British Columbia and in the United States. She has received many awards for both her studio and curatorial work including, two major project grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, the Osprey Foundation and a Canadian Museum Association.
She has taught for the University of Montana, the Kootenay School of Arts and the Oxygen Art Centre. She has had solo exhibitions at the University of Reno, Navada (2002), Gallery Gachet, Vancouver (2010), Oxygen Art Centre, Nelson (2008), Nelson Museum, Archives and Art Gallery (formerly Touchstones Nelson) (2010), Kootenay Gallery of Art, Castlegar (2002, 2018), Gallery 2, Grand Forks (2019) and the Langham Cultural Centre, Kaslo (2020) among others.
She has done residencies at the Vermont Studio Centre, the Banff Centre, the Art Shed in Sointula, BC, BOXPROJECTS, Joshua Tree, CA and DRAWinternational in Caylus, France. She was awarded the Jordan Schnitzer Residency in printmaking in 2021 at the Sitka Centre for Art and Ecology, OR.
Her work is in the print collection at the Portland Museum of Art and Grand Forks Art Gallery in Grand Forks.