Today we’d like to introduce you to Debra Balchen.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Debra. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As with most of the important things in life, things happen due to the unexpected…
A little about me…
Born and raised in Chicago, 2nd generation in. Grew up on the Northwest Side of Chicago. A good old Democratic neighborhood of policemen, firemen, teachers, city workers… and mafia men. Went to Steinmetz High School of Hugh Hefner Playboy fame. I found high school big and boring. Tried out for the high school cheerleading squad, didn’t make it. Always wanted to go to University for art, never quite made that either, (yet) but more on all of that later.
So, while thinking of ways to pay for college.
Chicago Bear-Honey Bear
You know the story…
A person goes to the audition because her friend wants you to go with her, because you can dance too, and because you don’t have that much else to do; so you figure why not? And you actually know nothing about football, except that all the men in your family wear t-shirts that say BEARS, and scream and yell and cannot wait for the games to come on TV. And, when you are accepted because, of course, you are gonna be accepted because you just went on the audition on a lark, all the men that surround you in life, fall to the floor in a puddle of OMG, you gotta do this! You know you have no choice…
WE were the first “Dancing Girls” the Bears ever had, and were greeted by the public with such enthusiasm! Something that seems surreal to me, even to this day, is that we were wanted for personal appearances. People, grown adults, actually waiting in line for hours for our autographs! My older-self see’s my younger-self in some sort of alternative reality that has nothing to do with my real life. I will never forget, that fan enthusiasm
Modeling years…
I was modeling for Marshall Fields, Saks, Wieboldt’s, Sears, Dorothy Fuller, at the newly opened Chicago Apparel Center, and many of the Chicago daytime TV shows. including a new gal in town named Oprah Winfrey. There were loads of fashion happenings all around Chicago in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I did a lot of runway and print work. My very last photo shoot was for Sears with a model named Jennifer Beals. Right after that shoot Jennifer Beals left to make “Flash Dance,” and I ran off to Africa with the Frenchman I married…where we had 2 children and lived for twenty years.
I had a house in Africa…
We actually did not go to Africa immediately. First, there was NY, then Italy. Then back to NY, and THEN…we moved to Africa for 20 years.
First South Africa, during Apartheid, then Mandela’s election, various-bomb blasts, then post-Apartheid, because this is important.
Then, Kenya, during the American Embassy bomb blast, (the French husband’s office windows were all blown out), because this is important.
Then, Egypt and thank Goodness… missed the Arab Spring.
But in Egypt, even though I was kicked out of the Art University, no Americans were being allowed in at the time. I found some wonderful Art Opportunities, like designing 9 stained glass windows for the iconic church St Johns in Cairo, Egypt. And then, the large-scale Stained Glass windows for the largest Church in Israel, the Church of the Sermon on the Mount, and finally, oh finally, I could find online art courses for Representational Art…
I finally returned (for good behavior?) to my hometown of Chicago, for a break, and to finally get to do what I had started out wanting to do when I was young, which was Art Making in earnest. The reason I had started modeling all those years before was that I had wanted to earn the money to go to Art School, but I kept getting kind of side-tracked by the OMG’S of my youth. While in Africa, it seemed I was always trying to go back to school, but even though it is not that long ago, what I needed was not to be found. And quite frankly, I have never been interested in African art, I am more a Renaissance kind of a girl. Now back in Chicago I had the opportunities and the time for myself. So, I started drawing, painting and sculpting, which was something new, full-time. I now have my own studio at the Zhou-B Art center in Bridgeport. I also work out of one of the oldest art clubs in America, The Palette, and Chisel Art Academy Fine Art Academy. You can find my work online, in various Fine Art Galleries, and numerous Shows through “Poets and Artists Magazine.” Or just look up my website, I love making art, it is my passion, my drug, my meditation… finally full circle.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I am like the little engine that could… then could not… then could… then could not… I cannot tell you how many times there was no way for me to progress and I, WOULD, do a woa-is-me kind of a thing… stop for a while. And then, just like that, start again.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Debra Balchen – what should we know?
I am an artist that paints and draws, makes art glass, designs stained glass windows and sculpts. I take a commission on 2-d and 3-d portraits and figures… and also take commissions on abstracts and large-scale murals… like the column I painted for Google headquarters in Chicago.
Pricing:
- my prices start at $350.-$3,200
Contact Info:
- Address: Zhou-B Art Center
1029 W 35 th street
Chicago, Illinois 60609
studio #405 - Website: debrabalchen.art
- Phone: 312-810-1111
- Email: debraannbalchen@gmail.com
- Instagram: debrabalchen
- Facebook: debrabalchen
- Twitter: debrabalchen1
Image Credit:
https://vimeo.com/2707600171?ref=fb=shares&1
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