Debra Di Blasi

Debra Di Blasi is an artist, former art critic, and award-winning writer. Her visual and multimedia art has been exhibited at museums, galleries, and universities. She holds a BFA in painting from Kansas City Art Institute, where she later taught literature and creative writing with an emphasis on innovative and experimental forms, including mixed media.

Her series of Chinese brush paintings have been published in books and journals, and in a 7-volume portfolio series. She returned to abstract oil painting after a hiatus during which she founded and ran an innovative multimedia publishing company.

She is the author of 13 literary books, including Birth of Eros, The Jiri Chronicles and What the Body Requires. The short film based on her novella Drought, directed by Lisa Moncure and cowritten by Moncure and Debra, won a host of national and international awards, including Best Screenplay from Kansas City Film Jubilee, and was one of only six US films invited to the Universe Elle section of the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival. Her short prose and poetry is published in prominent literary journals and notable anthologies of innovative writing.
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She divides her time between the U.S. and Portugal.

• BFA. Kansas City Art Institute. Kansas City, Missouri. Major: Painting. Magna Cum Laude. Fall 1982-Spring 1985
• San Francisco State University. M.A. Novel Writing Program. Spring 1989 (no degree taken)
• University of Missouri-Columbia. Journalism major/Creative Writing minor. Fall 1975-Spring 1979 (no degree taken)

Chinese Brush Paintings and earlier art works are included in many private collections.
2020 - Li Na Tennis Player Portrait commissioned by David Linebarger for "Tennis Writings" and published at National Senior Men's Tennis Association.
2019 - 4 Bird Paintings: Chinese-style, watercolor and sumi ink on xuan paper. Nostos (Longship Press): Poetry, Fiction, and Art. 2019
2010 - Columbia City Art Gallery. Hand2Hand: The Book as Art. Juried exhibition. Columbia City, WA.
2010 - Gloss & Grime. Group exhibition. Oklahoma City, OK. 2009 - Unit 5 Gallery. Kansas City, MO.
2008 - Patterns of Behavior. Group Exhibition. Kansas City, MO. Greenlease Gallery.
2007 - Beasts installation. Group Exhibition. Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO.
2005 - The Late Show. Bend: An exhibition of new paintings by Debra Di Blasi and Anne Austin Pearce. Kansas City, MO.
2005 - Northwest Art Center. 20”x20”x20” National Juried Compact Competition. “muons, gluons, pions & strings: Homage to Edward Witten No. 70.” Minot State University, Minot, ND.
2004 - Upstream People Gallery. "Gorgeous #15: The Fabulous Plastic Surgery of Dr. Harold W. George." Digital print. 7th Annual Faces Juried Online International Art Exhibition, Omaha, NE.
2004 - H&a...