Hello, I’m DeAnna
I am an illustrator and artist from Gettysburg Pennsylvania. I love to create lil’ characters (I call them silly lil’ guys) that embrace my interests in the environment as well as my love of storytelling.
I graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2022 with a BFA in Illustration and a minor in art history. Following my graduation, I received a Fulbright National Geographic Fellowship to study cultural storytelling and it’s effects on biodiversity in a landscape through illustration and painting. At the Burren College of Art in the village of Ballyvaughan, on the West coast of Ireland, I received my Masters in Art and Ecology in 2023.
I have designed multiple children’s books with Whole Wilde World Books LLC. I prefer to work with traditional media (gouache, watercolor, and colored pencil), but I am also well versed in digital illustration and have experience working as a visual development artist for animated shows.
Working in my sketchbook, with pen to paper is a significant part of my creative practice. I enjoy the unpredictability and flow of painting, sketching, and exploring in my sketchbook.
Outside of illustration (although I am rarely ever without a sketchbook) I enjoy hiking, learning more about native plants and animals, and experiencing new places, cultures, and stories to better inspire and inform my own creative practices.
Artist Statement
My practice explores the fellowship of the human body and nature through painting, illustration and storytelling. Tender and fragmented human bodies melt softly around imaginary gardens inspired by my current experience in the landscape. Through colour, I blur the line between what is real and imagined; from what is natural to what is human. The vivid variation sculpts a scene that feels lucid and almost psychedelic, yet it retains a sense of quietude. The paintings seek to evoke the feeling of being completely enveloped in nature - feeling as though it is a part of oneself.
My practice is grounded in ecological research as much as it is in artistic research. A large part of my practice involves a physical connection to nature - learning about how it functions, grows, and communicates. The images and stories captured in these paintings are a culmination of my own experience and memories in the landscape as well as my interests in Ethnobotany, Ecology, and the current sociological relationship between humans and nature.
For larger scale works, I primarily work with acrylic on canvas. For smaller scale works and for my illustration work, I primarily work with gouache, watercolor, and colored pencil on hot pressed board. I am well versed in Photoshop and other Adobe Products for creating digital paintings, illustrations, or editing photos or pieces of artwork.
Curriculum Vitae
2025 Solo exhibition, Hinterland, Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick MD
2024 Group exhibition, Folklore: Tales From the Crypt, Sweetwater Arts Center, Pittsburgh PA
2024 Group exhibition, 2024 Emerging Artists, Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick MD
2023 Group exhibition, Growth In The Ecotone, Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan Ireland
2022 Group Exhibition, The Newtown History Series, Richard and Barbara Basch Gallery, Sarasota FL
2022 Group exhibition, Ringling Illustration Senior Show, Ringling College Galleries, Sarasota FL
2022 Group exhibition, The Best of Ringling: Illustration, Stulberg Gallery, Sarasota FL
2021 Group exhibition, The Best of Ringling: Illustration, Stulberg Gallery, Sarasota FL
2020 Group Exhibition, Emerging Visions, Creative York Art Gallery, York PA
Publications
National Geographic: Field Note Blogs
SRQ Magazine: Arts and Culture
Sarasota Magazine: News and City Life
Patch: Ringling College A Top Producer Of Fulbright Awards For U.S. Students