:''This is an article about the author and artist. For the Australian character actress, see

Deborah Kennedy :''This is an article about the actress. For the American eco artist and author, see Deborah Kennedy (artist)''. Deborah Kennedy is an Australian character actress recognised for several television and film roles, especially for her appearance ...

''. Deborah Kennedy (born 1953) is an American author, educator and artist whose work has focused primarily on

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

advocacy and

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

concerns. She has also lectured on art and art history at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

and

San Jose City College San José City College (SJCC) is a public community college in San Jose, California. Founded in 1921, SJCC is located in the West San Jose neighborhood of Fruitdale. History The college was founded in 1921, opening its doors to students in Sept ...

. She has received attention in media for her art projects, most notably along the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

before its fall in November 1989.

Personal life

Deborah Kennedy was born in Connecticut in 1953. She received her BA in the Practice of Art in 1983 from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and her MFA in Plastic Arts in 1987 from the

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

."Deborah Kennedy"
Saatchi Art. Accessed 1 August 2019.Sanders, Patricia B. (November 1999). "A conversation with Deborah Kennedy", in ''Artweek'', San Jose, California, pp. 13–14. She lives in San Jose, California.

Career

Kennedy's project at the

was installed in April 1989. It consisted of over 100 copper and brass plaques with inscriptions sharing hopes and fears of Americans and people from East and West German. Kennedy's project was featured in a 1989 article for the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' about its impact on the local community and how it allowed communication between

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

ers. Kennedy was assisted by the

Checkpoint Charlie Museum The Checkpoint Charlie Museum (german: Das Mauermuseum – Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie) is a private museum in Berlin. It is named after the famous crossing point on the Berlin Wall, and was created to document the so-called "best bord ...

along with political activist Ranier Hildebrant in mounting her work on the wall under the scrutiny of East German patrol guards.Gottschalk, Mary (April 2, 2010)
"San Jose artist Deborah Kennedy's art came down along with the Berlin Wall"
''

'' Accessed 1 August 2019. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Kennedy's art was also taken down and collected at least in part as souvenirs by locals. During the mid-1990s, Kennedy received a

California Arts Council The California Arts Council is a state agency based in Sacramento, United States. Its eight council members are appointed by the Governor and the state Legislature. The agency's mission is to advance California through arts, culture and creativi ...

grant for a project working with young people at a continuation high schoolTaggers= paint rosy future: Artist helps teens color their graffiti with dreams, San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, California, 7/29/91, pages 1 and 12a. ref> to produce graffiti murals. In 1997 she was awarded an Artist's Fellowship for Installation Arts from the Arts Council Silicon Valley.(September 1999 – March 2000)
"Biography"
in ''Nature Speaks: Environmental Installations by Deborah Kennedy''.

. Accessed 1 August 2019.City of San Jose Public Art Program (April 2004)
"Ripple Effect and Run River Run; Artists: Deborah Kennedy and Diana Pumpelly Bates"
SanJoseCA.gov. Accessed 1 August 2019. In that same year she completed work on the public sculpture entitled ''EcoTech'' featured at the Champion Light Rail Station in San Jose. From September 1999 to March 2000, Kennedy's artworks were featured at the

De Saisset Museum The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University opened in 1955, after Isabel de Saisset, the last member of a California pioneer family bequeathed her estate to the University of Santa Clara. The museum owns nearly 10,000 art pieces and historical ...

of the

for her exhibition titled ''Nature Speaks''.Northrup, JoAnne S. (September 1999 – March 2000)
"Curator's Message"
in ''Nature Speaks" by Deborah Kennedy''.

. Accessed 1 August 2019. Kennedy has also taught art and art history at Santa Clara University and currently teaches beginner and intermediate level drawing courses at

. Kennedy was commissioned by the San Jose Public Art Program to work alongside sculptor Diana Pumpelly Bates in 2004 on completion of a community project for the

Coyote Creek Trail The Coyote Creek Trail is a pedestrian and cycling trail along Coyote Creek in San Jose, California, which continues into Coyote Valley and northern Morgan Hill. The Coyote Creek Trail was designated part of the National Recreation Trail sy ...

recreational area of San Jose and Santa Clara County, California. Their public artworks, including Kennedy's 'Ripple Effect', are used to promote public awareness of a concrete landing pad and ramp leading to a levee where strollers, wheelchairs, and bicyclists have greater accessibility to the site.

Publications

In 2016 Kennedy published ''Nature Speaks: Art and Poetry for the Earth'' (White Cloud Press). It won the 2017 Eric Hoffer and Silver Nautilus poetry book awards for its use of combined visual art and poetry highlighting natural and ecological themes. ''Nature Speaks'' was also reviewed by Helen Dumont for the August 2017 edition of the ''

Midwest Book Review Midwest Book Review, established in 1976, produces nine book-review publications per month. Organization Midwest Book Review was established in 1976. The editor-in-chief of the organization is James A. Cox. The review puts out nine publications on ...

''. As featured in Gravel Magazine, her work includes projects such as "Plankton Follies", a cento, or poem created from lines of existing writing. These poems and ink illustrations emphasize the impact of climate change on plankton while incorporating passages from Barbara W. Tuchman's '' The March of Folly'' as well as works by Richard R. Kirby and Christian Sardet.Kennedy, Deborah.
Plankton Follies
. Gravel Magazine. Accessed 2 August 2019. Kennedy has also served as a contributor for other publications. Her recent written work, Habeas Corpus, was featured in ''Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea'', a 2019 anthology of poetry and fictional writing.1 August 2019
"Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea"
''Great Weather for Media''. Accessed 2 August 2019.

References

External links

Deborahkennedyart.com

Nature Speaks: Art and Poetry for the Earth (Youtube)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Deborah 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists Santa Clara University faculty Environmental artists San Jose City College 1953 births Living people American women academics

Personal life

Career

Publications

See also

References

External links