Brett DEBOER • DESIGN
Stockton, California
became mesmerized by the lost wax casting process and joined Art Castings of Colorado bronze foundry in Loveland as a wax chaser and spruer. Upon returning to graduate school, I then experienced the digital revolution in graphic design in upstate New York, subsequently designing and art directing for Rosanne Werner Design Associates and Idea Connections in Rochester, NY.
Heeding the call of Horace Greeley, I returned to the wild west of Wyoming, and joined a very dynamic art faculty at Northwest College in 1990. Beginning in 2000, I taught graphic design at the University of the Pacific, and chaired, or co-chaired the Department of Art and Graphic Design between 2007 and 2018. Following retirement from Pacific in the spring of 2025, I have been looking for that next best thing.
During the summer of 2010, I decided to ride my bicycle across the country (BBBA) starting in Oakland, CA and finishing on the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. The following year, I co-founded and co-produced the pageant DeltaFusion exploring the expressive power of creating Giant Puppets and using story telling to teach us about cultural diversity and community.
My recent digital design project has been a series of prints interpreting the likenesses of guardian angels. All are inspired by the writings of Robertson Davies’ “The Cornish Trilogy”. Other projects include “Jules” a Steam Punk piano sculpture as a part of the Downtown Stockton Alliance public art program “Music to Our Ears” and “Mick Fleetwood” a 1974 Cadillac car hood painting as part of a larger artcar project at the University of the Pacific.
Scratching the Surface, is the latest ongoing theme of exploration involving digital prints, poetry, sculpture, video and music with [re]veer.
Neil Young seems to always have had a certain way of expressing things that I tend to agree with. Here is one of his recent thought-provoking comments from Waging Heavy Peace.
“I think I will have to use my time wisely
and keep my thoughts straight
if I am to succeed and deliver the cargo
I so carefully have carried thus far to the outer reaches.”
§
Back in the days before digitally generated art/design, I arrived on the scene in the Black Mountain Hills of Western South Dakota (preceding the arrival of Rocky Raccoon by approximately 15 years). I soon learned to appreciate additional tunes by the Fab Four, as well as the Doors, Santana and local favorites Rosewood and the Energy that was Tommy Bolin. Throughout my youth I practiced the delicate balance of music, baseball, and art with lots of camping, reading and magic thrown in to keep me out of trouble.
Following high school I continued my education at South Dakota State (1972–74), University of Northern Colorado (BFA, Drawing & Painting, 1977) Parsons School of Design, (MA, Arts Education, 1985) and Rochester Institute of Technology (MFA, Graphic Design, 1989) with a brief interlude at La Poggerina, Figline Valdarno, Italy for instruction in old master’s painting techniques, marble sculpture and mountain climbing.
After graduation from UNC I spent some time molding young minds at the Abbey High School (1979–’81) in Cañon City, Colorado and Graland Country Day School (1982–’87) in Denver. I also