Adrian Deckbar was born and raised in New Orleans. She earned a BA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Louisiana (now ULL) in 1973. She then earned an MA in Painting and Drawing at San Francisco State University under the renowned photorealist artist Robert Bechtle. Later, at Tulane University, she received an MFA, also in Painting and Drawing. She has taught Painting and Drawing classes at Tulane University, The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, and at San Francisco State University. She has also taught workshops including The Bascom in Highlands, NC, The Mississippi Art Colony, The Arkansas Craft School, and The Prince’s Foundation for Rebuilding the Environment in New Orleans, and Sketching in Provence, Umbria, and Northern Italy. Her work is in numerous private and corporate collections in the US and abroad. She has received grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pollack Krasner Foundation, the Louisiana Division of the Arts, and the Gottlieb Foundation. In 2008, Deckbar published a book of her work with a grant from Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation, entitled, Continuum: Moving Through A Still Frame. Deckbar is currently working on a new series of paintings titled Movie Stills. These new paintings depict women who are aware that they are objectified, yet mysterious, weary and yet defiant. Her incredible mastery of photo realism, combined with an awareness of the times we live in, and all the emotional weight that carries, finds her in a unique place in the art world.
