Debra Gloeckler is a visual artist who explores the human experience of transition by engaging with rainwater as a process to transform sunlight-sensitive paper or plant-based dyes into abstract contact prints. Through attentive practices, transient materials and atmospheric conditions she considers our individual and collective responsibility to attune with nature. Her work examines ecological themes and is informed by community collaboration to protect native plant and pollinator habitats. She participates in environmentally focused art residencies and exhibitions abroad such as JOYA: arte + ecologia AiR 2024 and Arteventura/OPEN AIR 2025, in Spain, and takes part in collaborative multi-disciplinary research initiatives and community projects. Debra was born on southern Vancouver Island in the same coastal community where she grew up, raised her family, and lives today. She lives as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the Tsawout, Tsartlip, Tseycum and Pauquachin First Nations (Saanich Peninsula, BC) and values the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples’ time-honoured, caring and culturally important relationships with land and water.
Curriculum Vitae
residencies & Professional development
Arteventura Ecological Artist’s Residency, Corteconcepción, Huelva, Spain, 2025
JOYA: arte + ecologia AiR / CAMP Collab, Parque Natural Sierra María-Los Vélez, Spain, 2024
Collaborative Artist’s Mentorship Program (CAMP), Connie Morey, Victoria, BC, 2022-2023
Artist Mentorship Program, arc.hive Artist Run Centre, Connie Morey, Victoria, BC, 2019-2020
Education
Diploma of Fine Arts, Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria, BC, 2018
Certificate of Visual Arts, Vancouver Island School of Art, Victoria, BC, 2012
Selected Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Transpiring, the fifty fifty arts collective, Victoria, BC
Group Exhibitions
2025 Passion Reason Idiocy, Eastside Culture Crawl – Alternative Creations Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2025 UNITY, Moving Art, Eastside Culture Crawl – Online & East Van Vodville Cinema, Vancouver, BC
2025 UNITY, Moving Art, Lumière Festival & Eastside Arts Society, Vancouver, BC
2025 WHERE WE LIVE, Ministry of Casual Living & Dream City, Victoria, BC
2025 OPEN AIR, Arteventura, Corteconcepción, Huelva, Spain
2025 STILLlife, Metchosin ArtPod Art Gallery, Metchosin, BC
2024 Small Warts Exhibition, Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, BC
2023 Small Works Exhibition, Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, BC
2023 GROUNDWORK, errant artSpace, Victoria, BC
2021 Interlude, errant artSpace, Victoria, BC
2020 Curiosity Cabinet, Slide Room Gallery, Victoria, BC
2019 Colliers International Curated Exhibition, Colliers International, Victoria, BC
2018 Verge, Slide Room Gallery, Victoria, BC
2018 Tracing Boundaries, Slide Room Gallery, Victoria, BC
2017 Studio Practice, arc.hive Artist Run Centre, Victoria, BC
2015 Sidney Fine Art Show, Sidney, BC
2012 In Sites & Insights, Slide Room Gallery, Victoria, BC
2010 Constructed Formalist Narratives, Victoria Emerging Art Gallery, Victoria, BC
Publications
Eroding Forms, Ephemere Tokyo/Alternative Processes, Ephemere Tokyo Photo Fest, Tokyo, Japan 2025
Presentations & artist talks
Reconciling with Water Symposium, Victoria, BC, 2025
JOYA: arte + ecologia AiR, Parque Natural Sierra Maria – Loz Vélez, Spain, 2024
Memberships
ecoartspace
Land Art Agency & Collective
Victoria Arts Council
Debra Gloeckler 