1949–

Photographer Deborah Warren has an extensive history with the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, beginning in 1991 with A Personal Statement at the Arkansas Arts Center. Warren was one of 20 Arkansas artists whose works were displayed there in the Committee’s first major exhibition.

Warren said she received a letter from Caryl Steele, a representative of the Arkansas Committee, about round-trip airfare to Washington for all the artists featured in the Little Rock exhibit.

“I had never been to D.C., so it was exhilarating to be given this opportunity,” she said. “It was an energizing experience to be with fellow artists in such an elegant and prestigious setting and to have the respect and support of the Committee.

“I was able to meet some amazing artists and Arkansas Committee members who were very positive and forward-thinking,” she said.

“This experience lent credibility and affirmation to my vision. Since A Personal Statement I have received several grants, been included in many juried and solo exhibitions and have had my work published. Through the years the Arkansas Committee has helped nurture my career by listening to my ideas, supporting my plans and being proactive for Arkansas women artists.”

In 1999, the Arkansas Committee awarded her the Elizabeth J. Pruet Scholarship and Travel Grant to photograph historic architecture and landscapes in Cuba. She traveled 1,000 miles over three weeks in Cuba with a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control that she secured with letters of support from the Committee.

In 2001, she won third-place honors in the Arkansas Committee-sponsored Originals! exhibition with View from Bell Tower, Antigua Convento, Trinidad, Cuba, which was shot during her trip in the spring of 2000.

Her image, View from Iznaga Tower, a hand- tinted silver print shot in Valle de los Ingenios during the same trip to Cuba, represented Arkansas in a From the States exhibit at NMWA  in February and March 2001.

The image was shot from 144 feet above in a tower that stands out over the agricultural landscape and features what Warren calls “ocean clouds” — huge fast-moving, water-laden clouds — framed by a classical architectural arch.

“This photograph presented challenges in the climb and my fear of heights combined with the long wait for full sunlight on the ground,” she said. “The experience changed to euphoric when I saw the perfect time present itself, and then later, upon seeing the results on the negative and then paper.”

She was also awarded the third-place prize in a 2004 Originals! exhibition in Fayetteville. In 2007, she participated in an Arkansas Committee exhibition, and four years later she displayed photographs at locations across Arkansas in conjunction with the Arkansas Committee’s 2011 Women to Watch exhibition.

Writer Jill Waterman profiled her in an article titled “Deborah Warren: One Picture’s Story” in the NMWA magazine.

Warren began her photography career in Memphis, Tenn., creating documentary films that explored traditions and community issues in Tennessee and the Mississippi Delta. She now works as a fine art photographer in Hot Springs, and her portfolio includes landscapes and architecture of the United States, Cuba and Italy.

Her focus is the changing landscape, the myths and folklore associated with a sense of place and the architecture designed to frame the landscape. Warren describes her work as evocative, elemental and timeless and says photography has changed dramatically since she started 40 years ago.

“The biggest challenge has been to learn new tools and assimilate the digital demands into the creative process that I enjoy,” she said.

“My photographs encapsulate time folding in on itself,” said Warren. “Lost words, found objects and the natural world inspire these images. These meditations illustrate how our world keeps coming back, sometimes fiercely and sometimes quietly, to awaken the soul.”