Deb Koffman Art
 

Who am I?  I contemplate this question often.  The answer changes often. Some parts of me seem to stay the same, some parts evolve, some parts disappear.

This is a cardboard piece called Some Of The Parts. 


This is my first performance piece...Love Your Body.  

I made cardboard breasts and bellies and butts all different sizes, gathered some women, created a little choreography and sang my little "love your body" song.  

The big deal here is I made up this little song on a walk through the woods, singing to myself, trying to just love my body.  I loved the song so much I sang it OUT LOUD to my friend, then another friend, and another, then to a group of friends...I NEVER HAD THE COURAGE TO SING OUT LOUD TO ANYONE BUT MY CAT BEFORE THIS.  

Now who am I?  A singer-songwriter! and performer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-8HO32gNuY


This is Deb and Douglas and Steve rehearsing for Sit With Your Worries... a 10 minute performance piece by me and my friend Denice.

I'm beginning to translate some of my cartoons into performance pieces.  I love pop-up books and am discovering performance art is a way to make real life, on stage, pop-up, alive pieces.

I never actually performed in this piece, I just wanted to be part of the picture.  My friends Carmen, and Jeanne did the actual performing.   And Steve, Douglas and Denice.  I "directed".  So who am I? I'm a DIRECTOR too!!!!!

 

I practice sitting meditation, authentic movement, non-violent communication.  I draw, doodle, write and paint.   I’m trying to be aware of my eating habits, my thinking habits, my speaking habits.

I’m trying to WAKE UP.  I’m trying to BE REAL.  I’m trying to be TRUE to myself.I’m trying to stay in touch with what I’m feeling so I can express myself wholeheartedly.  I’m trying to stay sane.  I’m trying to stay on the earth.  I am trying to love myself.  I am trying to love everything.

I often forget these life-giving goals and fall into black holes of despair...EVEN WITH ALL THAT MEDITATION, ALL THAT ORGANIC FOOD, ALL THOSE SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS, I can still feel crazy, lonely, depressed.  So I make art of my thoughts, feelings, suffering because then I have reminders to look at, if I fall again....

And because I can forget so easily, I’m making lots of copies, because I figure the more people who have my cartoons, the more I have a chance of hearing it all again and the better my chances I’ll WAKE UP to the beauty that's in this very moment.

 

This is my porch.

These are my kitties...Izzy(with the white face)and Shoe-B(short for shoe-button eyes...those big black glass eyes they put on teddy bears).

I designed the set (with Nicki Wilson) for Castle Hill Theatre's production of "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears at the Circus".  This is Goldilocks (Samantha) sleeping in my bed.

I love working with recycled cardboard.  I love that I can paint on it, cut it easily, hang it, frame it, stand it up, pop stuff out of it.

This is a piece called Don't Stare It's Not Nice. Made of cardboard and acrylic paint.

As an artist, it's so important to stare...for me it's more than nice, it's essential.