Deborah La Grasse was born in Gainesville, Florida and received her Bachelor of Arts in Drawing and Painting from the University of Florida and a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Southern Illinois University. She has taught both sculpture and architectural design for over 30 years, and recently retired from teaching design in architecture at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida.

La Grasse’s work has been featured in exhibitions and collections nationally and internationally. Her interest in creating cultural dialogues has led her to teach in universities, facilitate workshops and conferences, and participate in artist residencies in Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru, India, and the United Kingdom.

In her sculpture and multimedia three-dimensional relief paintings she focuses on subjects of communication and the ways that art can document reality. To explore the unions of concept, process, materials, and design and to ponder the journey of creativity are what gives life and meaning to her work. She draws inspiration from themes that are common across cultures between folklore and mythology, architecture and symbolism. The immediacy of drawing and painting with the layering of mixed media and metal sculpture on a fixed pallet provides a material transformation for expression.