Meet the Artist: Debra Penberthy
By Kelli Comer
Local artist Debra Penberthy has always been in awe of vibrant, magical color. New to Northeast Ohio by way of North Carolina, she has immersed herself in the local art scene and is embracing her new community with arms wide open.
Debra brings hues to a new dimension with the creation of her enchanted 2D and 3D handmade needle felting pieces. She uses vibrantly colored, handmade felt in her creations—paintings and anthropomorphized animals out of wool and fantastical rabbits, cats and dogs—most of which include a flexible wire armature that allows the figures to be fully poseable.
“I’ve always loved color, especially vibrant jewel tones that come from all the elements of nature,” Debra explains. “My wool paintings tend to celebrate the four elements—representing earth, water, air and fire—the perfect imperfection of the mountains and an ever-changing sky.”
She uses a special barbed needle to poke into wool roving, a processed wool that is used to make yarn. By using this needle felting technique, Debra has found that she can bring her imagination to life while developing her skills. “I love that this medium is inexpensive, forgiving and allows for plenty of upcycling—as used animal fiber items such as sweaters can easily be incorporated into new projects,” Debra comments.
Needle felting is Debra’s passion that is becoming part of her career. With an extensive artistic background, her formal training is in classical music, songwriting and interdisciplinary performance. In 2018, she created and performed a one-woman musical called Serious Rabbit, a musical folktale in which she explores Buddhist themes. It was in search of an album cover for her forthcoming album that she discovered her ability to create rabbits out of needle felting.
“I had always dreamed of branching out into visual arts,” Debra says, “In 2019, I attended a class in the Appalachian Mountains, where I was living at the time and learned how to make hand-felted cloth and creatures. I also learned the 2D technique through group and private classes with celebrated fiber artist Cecilia Ho. Since then, I’ve begun selling my works and perfecting my craft. I will be having my first solo shows at Muggswigz Coffee in Downtown Akron in February and March.”
Debra is a new instructor at Peninsula Art Academy, where she teaches Intro to Needle Felting.
To reach Debra, you can email her at debrapenberthy@gmail.com. To learn more about the artist and her work, visit DebraPenberthy.com/Visual-Art. Find Debra on Instagram @TheSeriousRabbit. To view Debra’s schedule and to register for classes, visit PeninsulaArtAcademy.org/Classes.