Debra Broz

Dog Pile

Secondhand ceramic figurines, mixed media

"Referencing fairytale and folklore, the overlap of science and science-fiction, and the psychology of comfort objects and consumer culture, my work sentimentally and humorously offers considerations about the power of kitsch, the malleability of identity, and the 'truth' of objects as they pass from one owner to another."

— Debra Broz

About the artist

Debra Broz

American

Debra Broz collects and deconstructs secondhand ceramic kitsch figurines, then combines them into reimagined versions of their former selves. Using ceramics restoration techniques, she effaces history by creating seamless reconstructions that are part humor, part mad science, and part tender sentimentality for the rural Midwest where she grew up. In her larger works, she creates domestic installations that combine her reconstructed figurines with sculpture made from disassembled secondhand stuffed toys and discarded furniture. Broz was born in 1981 in Springdale, Arkansas, and was raised in rural central Missouri. She received her BFA with honors from Maryville University - St. Louis in 2003. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Austin, Texas where she trained as a ceramics restorer and began using ceramic figurines in her art practice. Broz moved to Los Angeles in 2014, and then to Seattle, Washington in 2022. Broz shows with various galleries in the US, and has had exhibits at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Austin Museum of Art, and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Her work has been featured in print in Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, and Frankie magazines; in a number of online publications; and in two international surveys of contemporary ceramics.