Deborah Ugoretz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Fine Art. In 2024 she became a NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Folk Arts. She is recognized by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as a master Cut-Paper artist. In 2017-19 she received a grant from the NJSCA Folk-Life Program to mentor an apprentice. For eight years, she was a co-coordinator of an Artist Beit Midrash- artists who study Jewish texts and create visual interpretations.
Her expressive work—paintings, constructions and mobiles —deal with the exploration of feminism, her concern for and fascination with the diversity of the natural world and social issues. Her three- dimensional paper constructions seek to communicate through pattern, movement and shadow. Ugoretz lives in Brooklyn, New York and maintains a studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
For articles written about her practice, Please visit these links:
On Scissors and Shavuot. Jewish Standard,Times of Israel. April 7,2020. .https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/on-scissors-and-shavuot/
Dreaming of a Third Eye: Deborah Ugoretz on art and Spirituality. http://www.star-revue.com/dreaming-of-a-third-eye-deborah-ugoretz-on-art-and-spirituality/#sthash.yzvUb64G.dpbs
Passing it On: Jewish Papercutting.New Jersey State Council on the Arts.https://conta.cc/2JJkWLN
https://www.lilith.org/blog/2019/05/deborah-ugoretz-heals-wounds-with-paper-cuts/
Deborah Ugoretz writes,”I have two artistic loves in my life; working in cut paper and painting. In the first, I try to explore the concept of finding meaning in what has been cut away.” In my paintings”, She writes,” I use color as a metaphor for what we could call the “LIFE FORCE”. The artist uses color in unorthodox ways as an invitation for the viewer to see things in a different light. She brings two things to her audience: an awareness of the natural world and the profound meaning and relevance of Jewish and secular texts.
Ugoretz paints “Scotland”