Portrait of an Artist – Debbie Pekarcik: The threads that bind

Whatever medium I use, I love the process of creating and being able to touch the hearts of others through my art. Sometimes they’ll actually cry when they first see the piece I’ve made for them. Then I know I’ve done my job! – Debbie Pekarcik

 

By TIM WILCOX
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer

She’s the quintessential Southern California native. Debbie Pekarcik was born in Long Beach. She grew up in Garden Grove and has lived in the region her entire life.

Reflecting on her childhood, Debbie recalls that “my grandparents were instrumental because they lived close to us. My grandfather was a furniture refinisher who did caning and painting, and my grandmother did china painting and quilting. I was always in the mix and, from my early years, was immersed in everything from woodworking and refinishing furniture to oil painting, sewing and quilting.” During summer months, Debbie would teach her young friends how to draw and paint.

Her father, who was a traffic manager at American Wholesale Hardware in Long Beach, “loved to draw,” Debbie says. “And my mother involved me in crafting and Girl Scouts. So by the time I was a teen, I’d experienced many aspects of art and just couldn’t get enough of it.”

With the strong backing of her parents, Debbie focused on art after graduating from Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove. She initially enrolled at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, departing with an associate of arts degree. Next she entered California State University, Long Beach, then transferred to the system’s Fullerton campus, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in art.

Debbie met and married her life’s partner, Tom Pekarcik, when she was only 20. “Life’s partner” is the apropos term. Why? Because they’ve been together now for five decades. The couple moved to Riverside and lived there for many years, raising their son, Daniel, and daughter, Laura. There, too, Debbie was hired by the University of California, working as a graphic designer and illustrator in the publications department. While she excelled in that capacity, Debbie eventually felt confined – especially when the work became increasingly computer-based.

“I just couldn’t sit there day after day any longer,” she confides. “I had to get out and do something different.”

Called to be a teacher

So Debbie enrolled at California Baptist University in Riverside, where she earned a teaching credential. Later she garnered a master’s degree in teaching from Grand Canyon University, a respected online institution. The result was a major new chapter – namely, 15 years of teaching fourth- and fifth-grade students at Stone Avenue Elementary School in the Jurupa Unified School District (Riverside County).

“My career was about half and half,” she says, “half art and half teaching.” But when she retired as a teacher and Tom did the same from his position with Southern California Gas Co., Debbie’s attention returned to art. The couple moved to Running Springs in 2008, where they’d designed and built a stately, log-cabin-style home over the course of several years. Set apart on a secluded site, it’s a quiet and inviting forest ashram.

But back to Debbie’s art. . . “Although I’d done many illustrations, I actually hadn’t painted for about 40 years,” she says. She returned enthusiastically to the discipline with the support of Helga Batman-Koplin, a well-known member of the Mountain Arts Network (MAN). Recognizing Debbie’s obvious talent, Helga encouraged her to become a MAN member herself and jury into the group’s Lake Arrowhead Village gallery.

Pausing to flash an engaging smile, Debbie admits that “I thought getting back to painting might be like hopping on a bicycle again after many years. Well, it wasn’t quite that simple, but I was happy to discover that I could still paint.”

The artist continues:” My oil paintings are impressionistic, keeping the integrity of the color and brush strokes to show light, shadow and reflective light. They capture a moment in time.” Debbie adds that “my art is always changing because I really believe that in order to grow I need to take chances and, if I fail, that too is part of the process. Having the freedom to create something from nothing and sharing it to inspire others is pretty amazing. I never take that freedom for granted.”

Longtime passion

But her first love – her longtime passion – is textile arts. She’s been quilting for more than 40 years. In 2018 Debbie discovered a related craft: mixed-media textile with appliqué and free-motion embroidery. She took a workshop in the discipline, then began pursuing it with characteristic focus and energy. Now Debbie teaches this unusual and distinctive art form. (A workshop is slated for next spring at Cherry Berry Quilts in Calimesa.)

Going into detail, she explains: “I’ve been able to use fabric and thread to create thread-painted textiles. Design elements are the same as painting, and the pieces are often of animals. I build up the substrate with fabrics, creating the values that I want. Then I free-motion embroider over this, leaving some fabric design to show through to create texture. Each piece is unique – from its construction process to its overall aesthetic appeal.”

These works of art, designed to be wall hangings, are exquisitely detailed and strikingly colorful. Her first effort was a raccoon rendered in otherworldly hues. That piece hangs in her home’s textile studio. Others are of people’s beloved pets. And some are purely abstract, evolving “from the moment I begin working on them,” Debbie says. “A lot of it is just experiment, which is exciting. And if I make a mistake, I learn from it.”

The artist uses a high-end sewing machine and also an imposing, super-sophisticated piece of equipment called a longarm. That unit is dedicated to producing larger thread-painted textiles and traditional quilts. Debbie’s mixed-media textile pieces require much more time and effort than her oil paintings – measured in weeks rather than hours. As a result, they’re more expensive and usually commissioned.

One favorite piece, though, was lovingly created for her son, Daniel. A stunning “wall quilt” depicting the head of a bald eagle, it comes with a moving story.

“My son had waited for this quilt for a long time. In watching him grow up and become the wonderful man he has become, I wanted to leave a bit of a legacy. I kept thinking that if I could tell him one thing, what would it be? This quilt will outlive me! I wanted to leave a message of hope: ‘The skies are not always clear. There will be times of cloudiness, uncertainty and difficulty mustering the courage you’ll need. Rise above, Look to the Skies and remember God is there to guide you.’

“In this quilt I used a piece of fabric that I actually had left over from his first baby quilt. We had fun finding it. When I go to his house, my 4½-year-old grandson grabs my hand, leads me over to that framed quilt hanging in the living room above the couch and says, ‘Grandma, did you see my daddy’s eagle?’

“That’s the ultimate: The threads that bind!”

Debbie Pekarcik’s oil paintings are on display and for sale at the MAN gallery on the lower level of Lake Arrowhead Village. She’s also a member of the Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, Redlands Art Association, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and Big Bear Lake and Pass Patchers Quilt Guilds. Contact her at dapekarcik@charter.net or visit www.deborahpekarcik.com.