About the artist and writer Debra Hand
email for inquiries to handstudios@aol.com
About the Artist Debra Hand
Debra Hand is an artist and writer. Her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, the DuSable Museum, and the Peoria Riverfront Museum. She was just chosen by Clientele Luxury Global Magazine as one of their “Awe Inspiring Creative Artists of 2021.
In 2012, Hand was commissioned by the City of Chicago and Chicago Park District to create a life-sized bronze statue of the historic writer and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, for Dunbar Park in Chicago. The statue was unveiled in 2014, and is 9 ft. including the solid granite base.
Among the many history makers who own her works are...
Former President Barack Obama; former astronaut, Mae Jemison;
Oprah; Harry Belafonte; Smokey Robinson; Yo-Yo Ma; Magic Johnson; Hillary
Clinton; Stedman Graham; Spike Lee; Baby Face; Seal; LL Cool J; and Chicago
luminaries sculptor Richard Hunt; Cheryl Burton, Dwyane Wade; Barbara Bates, Louis and Diane Carr, Melody Spann-Cooper, and
Chris Gardner, to name a few. The late Cicely
Tyson; Dr. Winnie Mandela and Dr. Maya Angelou also owned her work.
Debra Hand has a Master’s of
Science and Engineering Degree from Northwestern University's McCormick School
of Engineering. She has worked and taught extensively in the area of data
transmissions infrastructure and technology. .
She is a self-taught artist and
writer who began her journey in the arts with the very basics: a writing pad,
watercolor set, and a paint brush. Through years of determined
self-instruction, she worked her way into a prestigious career filled with
accomplishments. She was being chosen by the City of Chicago to create a
life-size bronze statue to honor the life and legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar.
She has written, directed , and
edited several episodes of the H30-Art of Life Show on CAN-TV, including two documentaries.
The one hour, 2005, documentary, titled “Katrina 101" documented and
narrated the struggles of three Hurricane Katrina survivors who had been left
behind in New Orleans during the storm. Another one hour, 2004, documentary
featured the collection and book launch of “African Art: the Diaspora and
Beyond” by Daniel T. Parker ) and included the oral histories of the
collections' artists.
Debra Hand has written several YA
and children’s books, has self-published 2 of them, “Fruit Takes Over” and
“Small Street Brokers” a novel incorporating financial literacy. And she is currently working on 3 novels and
4 screenplays that are in various stages of editing. She has also written
numerous poems.
Coincidentally, it was Dunbar’s
poetry that gave Hand her first glimpse of an African American writer. As a
child, Dunbar's poetry had been read to her by her mother. It was only later,
during the research phase of Hand's Dunbar statue, that Hand learned Dunbar was
the very first African American in history to reach international acclaim as an
author and poet, and to make his sole living as a writer.
Historical figures seem to show
up often on Hand’s artistic journey. She was personally mentored by the late
Dr. Margaret Burroughs, principal founder of the historic DuSable Museum which,
likewise, was the first museum in the nation that was entirely devoted to
African American history and culture.
Burroughs, a famous artist and
writer who devoted her life and art to serving humanity, encouraged Hand to keep
this principle at the forefront of her work. To this day, it is a legacy that
Hand proudly follows. Whether she is writing or creating art, she uses
storytelling in all its forms to encourage younger generations to find value in
themselves, and to encourage understanding between diverse groups in hopes of
engendering a more inclusive society for everyone.
Debra Hand is often commissioned
to create works honoring those who have made significant contributions to
American History.
She has won numerous awards
including “Best of Show” at the Museum of Science and Industry’s Black
Creativity Exhibit, and was the Chicago winner of the Bombay Sapphire and Rush
Philanthropist’s “Next Greatest Artists” contest. She was honored with a “Black Excellence”
Award by the African American Arts Alliance, and named one of the Chicago
Defender’s Top 50 Women of Excellence.
In 2016, she was presented with an Egretha Cultural Icon Award.