Deborah Valoma

Director of Fine Arts

Deborah Valoma works in the medium of textiles, using digital weaving technology as well as traditional hand processes such as crocheting and stitching to explore the physical, historical, and poetic nuances of the medium. Deborah's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums, including the de Young Museum, San Francisco; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; SOFA Chicago; and the Textile Museum, Washington DC.

Deborah's specialized field of research and teaching is the cultural history of textile making as an aesthetic practice and global technology. She lectures on historical topics, organizes exhibitions, and writes. In 2004 she curated The Past in Present Tense: Four Decades of Baskets by Julia Parker, a retrospective exhibition at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California, featuring that renowned Native American basket weaver. She is working toward the publication of a book of the same title.

Deborah also works with several community-based groups that focus on the preservation of traditional performance arts from diverse cultures and countries, including Cuba and Brazil. She is engaged in ongoing collaborations with other artists and serves on the boards of directors and advisory councils for several nonprofit organizations.