Debbie Edgers Sturges Sold at Auction Prices

Debbie Edgers Sturges - Biography

My paintings are inspired by my personal interactions and experiences with wildlife. My passion is watching and photographing how an animal moves and exists within their natural environment. Every painting comes from my travel, study and photographs. I hope to inspire others to personally examine with a curious heart all that surrounds us in the natural world.

Debbie has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Washington and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/ Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.

She has been featured in several magazines including Southwest Art, "Start your Collection" April 2006, Wildlife Art, "Artists for the Next Generation, The Bolder the Better", March/April 2007, Wildscape, "Paint it Big and Strong, The Art of Debbie Edgers Sturges," Vol. 7 No. 2 Summer 2007, Log Home Living's 2006 Annual Buyer's Guide, Western Art Collector “Celebration of the Season” September 2008 and Western Art Collector “Edge of the Wild” July 2010.

In 2005, "Arts for the Parks" selected one of her paintings for the top 200 and two of her paintings for the top 150-miniature show. In 2006 "Arts for the Parks" selected her painting "Hot Dusty Trail" into the top 100. In 2006, Debbie was also accepted as a signature member into the prestigious "Society of Animal Artists" and had her painting "6:30 A.M., Cooke City" in their 46th annual traveling exhibit "Art and the Animal".

In the summer of 2007, Debbie fulfilled a dream to observe and photograph Coastal Grizzly Bears in Alaska. She spent four days in Kukak and Halo Bays during which she was able to take over 6000 photographs of bear behavior. Her first hand observations have translated themselves into passionate and realistic paintings.

In 2008, Debbie visited Churchill, Manitoba to photograph and paint polar bears. During her four days on the shore of Hudson Bay, Debbie was able to capture images of bears interacting with their cubs while waiting for the bay to freeze over. Her haunting light in these paintings reflects the coming of the winter season.

In June of 2009, Debbie visited Serian Camp in Kenya with the "Society of Animal Artists". During her ten days spent in the Masai Mara, she tracked lions with the conservation group "Living with Lions" and was able to photograph and observe several different pride members. In August of the same year, Debbie was able to attend a course with renowned black bear expert Lynn Rodgers in Ely, Minnesota. Working with Lynn and the bears for four days, Debbie learned that black bears are not ferocious, stalking monsters but gentle giants that are motivated by food and fear.

In June of 2010 Debbie returned to Kenya and the Masai Mara to continue her study and photographing of the African wildlife and the annual migration of over one million wildebeest from Tanzania into Kenya. She also trekked into the Rwandan jungle to study and photograph the mountain gorillas. She concluded this year's travels with a return to Ely, Minnesota to once again study and photograph wild black bears with expert Lynn Rogers.

Debbie's studio in Hailey, Idaho is the center of her creations but that creative passion extends to the mountains, deserts and tundra around the world. She fills her heart, her canvasses and ultimately her collectors' homes with the wild moments of life.

Debbie Edgers Sturges passed away on September 5, 2014 after a year and a half battle with lung cancer. You can reach her husband, Brian Sturges, at 450 River Trail Hailey, Idaho or by email at bsmagpie@cox.net if you are interested in purchasing any of Debbie's remaining work.

paintbox@dedgerssturges.com