Deborah Silverstein

My interests shift with the seasons and the years between music, painting and mixed media (usually involving textiles in some form).

The first images are from a series of watercolors based on the photographs of my friend and fellow NoCa member John Hubbell. They are images of the ruins of the former Met State Mental Hospital in Waltham, MA. I'm calling the series "Breakdown." I am drawn to these images on many levels: first to the beauty of the structure and the materials as they disassemble on their way back, or is it forward, into the wider universe; then to my awareness of what these buildings actually were - a place where people whose minds were breaking down were sent to live; and finally to my awareness of the fact that vast numbers of the people who used to live in mental institutions now live in our prisons or on our streets - a function of the breakdown of the very fabric of society. I believe that it is our capacity to see beauty in the midst of fear and ugliness, and the determination to exercise that capacity, that orients us to live with courage and compassion.

I am currently working on a new series of images taken from a photographic trip back to my hometown of Johnstown, PA during the summer of 2008.