Deborah Pieritz received  a B.A. from Barat College of DePaul University, and an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Her work has been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Portland Art Museum; the Pratt Graphic Center, New York; the Viridian Gallery, New York; the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago; the Kohler Art Center, Wisconsin; the Chicago Botanic Garden;  the Evanston Art Center.  Most recently she had one-person shows at the Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, and the Beverly Art Center, Chicago.  She is included in a book on living Chicago artists published in the fall of 2004. Her work is in the Collection of the Chicago Public Libraries; the Art Institute of Chicago Print Department; the Pratt Graphic Center, New York; Third Unitarian Church, Chicago; as well as numerous private collections. When  not working on my art, she helps run Pieritz Bros. Office Supplies, her family’s 111-year-old, Oak Park stationery store.

Description of Public Art projects:

“It’s as if Emily Dickinson and The Wright Brothers  got stranded together in Our Lady of Construction Grade School circa 1960.”

Chalkboard, string and the letters
A H I M O T U V W X Y

A 30 foot plus high thin black line of connected vertical see-thru words hanging from the ceiling and tumbling onto an oak base on the floor. It will appear as if a chalkboard was cut into 1 1/2” by 8” strips laid end to end with vertical words drilled thru and then sewn with string resembling chalk. All of the words of this limited vocabulary will be able to be read from both sides and the frame becomes the base. This piece is intended to be placed in a library or school. I’m playing with words, viewing vocabulary as  visual sculpture.

An installation using as many toy pianos as I can get my hands on circa 1940-1960. I want to extend the legs on them so they become adult size, stretching these pianos in a physical and metaphoric way. They’ll have the potential of being played and the possibility of collaboration with sound artist.

I’ve acquired approximately 20 toy pianos and am starting to experiment with legs and bases. This piece should be finished within a year.