Deborah Wilson is a world-renowned sculptor working primarily in jade. As early as 1987, National Geographic named her among “the finest contemporary jade sculptors in the world.” She exhibits in the Okanagan as well as in California, Washington, and Utah. Her work is also created and celebrated in China and shown internationally. Her sculptures are held in collections and public spaces in Alberta, Toronto, California, New York, London, and throughout British Columbia.
Deborah studied at the Vancouver School of Art and since the 1990s has been offering stone-carving workshops to make this form of art accessible to a wider public. In her Okanagan studio she stores a wide array of large and small stones in many colors—from white alabaster and marble to deep green jade and Chinese basalt—awaiting artistic transformation. The studio is filled with the sound of running water, grinding wheels, and drills. For some of her works, she has invented original sculpting drills, supports, and polishing tools. Yet amidst the noise and rough carving, she shapes the stones into elegant, light-filled forms that often seem to defy their heavy origins. While she currently focuses on smaller sculptures and objects, she plans to return to working with monumental stone blocks intended for public spaces.
For the exhibition in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, she contributed jade pendants—“treasures from the mountains.” These are dedicated to the Ore Mountains and, in Reg Kienast’s story, are worn by the main hero and heroine.