WUAM Artist Residency 2026
DEBRA COOK SHAPIRO
ARTIST BIO
Debra Cook Shapiro is a San Francisco-based painter whose expressive figurative landscapes offer an escape from the mundane. Her work features figures and environments drawn from her own life experiences and imagination, capturing the fleeting beauty of intimate, everyday moments with emotional resonance.
Born in a rural part of southern Illinois near St. Louis, Shapiro grew up in a hardworking family where art was seen as a luxury, not a career. Encouraged to pursue stability, she followed in her sisters’ footsteps and became a schoolteacher. Though she dreamed of being an artist, it felt too distant—until life shifted dramatically. After the sudden loss of her father and the unraveling of a romantic relationship, she made the bold decision to leave the familiar behind and move to San Francisco—and later Italy—to finally follow her dream of becoming an artist.
Her figures, often set in nature, are inspired by the work of Fragonard, Bonnard, Eric Fischl, Seurat, and the Bay Area Figurative painters, whose influences can be seen in her color palette, atmosphere, and emotional nuance.
Shapiro’s work has been exhibited at the Superfine Art Fair in San Francisco and Brooklyn (2025), and the LA Art Fair with Teravarna Gallery (2024). She has held solo exhibitions at the French Consul’s Residence, Summerhouse in Mill Valley, and Ice House Gallery in Petaluma. Group shows include Mirus Gallery, Arc Gallery, 111 Minna Gallery, Art Works Downtown,San Rafael, CA, and Abend Gallery in Denver.
In 2023, she received a scholarship to the European Cultural Academy in Venice. In 2025, she was awarded First Place in Collage and Fiber Arts Category in the Women United Art Prize.
Shapiro studied at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco Art Institute, UC Berkeley Post-Bac Seminars, and in Florence, Italy.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"My work centers on human connection—on the moments, gestures, and environments that quietly define a life. Through figurative oil paintings and painted paper collages, I explore the emotional weight of gatherings, solitude, and the rituals of everyday beauty. These images are drawn from memory, imagination, and lived experience. Some, like Aperitivi con Dolce and Roselight, celebrate the electricity of togetherness. Others, like The Time of Her Life, reflect on longing, change, and memory.
Inspired by places I’ve known—Venice, the South of France, San Francisco—my landscapes often blend time and geography into imagined settings. In Lombardia, for example, the streets of Venice gradually gave way to the curve of San Francisco’s Russian Hill. These places serve not only as backdrops but as emotional containers, holding the residue of joy, reflection, and intimacy.
My process moves fluidly between collage and painting. I hand-paint vellum in the palette of my oil works, then cut and arrange the pieces freely, without a fixed plan. This playful, improvisational approach has deeply influenced my paintings—encouraging boldness, looseness, and clarity. In works like Dimmi di Più and Las Tres Gracias, collage became a way to express fleeting moments of connection with a freedom that painting had not previously allowed. Letting go of perfectionism has been part of the process, too.
At its core, my practice is about presence—about paying attention to what passes quickly, what stays with us, and what reveals itself in color, light, and touch. Whether in a sunlit piazza, a backyard garden, or a quiet pool, I try to hold the feeling of life as it’s being lived."
CONNECT WITH THE ARTIST
DEBRA COOK SHAPIRO
LOCATION: San Francisco, CA | US
WEBSITE: www.debcookshapiro.com
IG: @debcookshapiro