Deborah Irish named ACM Artist of Month

Artist of the Month Deborah Irish poses with her paintings of the Solar Eclipse.

By Jim T. Gammill

Arts Council Menifee is pleased to name Deborah Irish as its Artist of the month for August 2019.

Deborah is a Menifee-based artist who has been painting her entire life. She remembers first being drawn to the arts as a little girl and found that she took to them naturally since artistic genes run strong in her family. She found herself especially interested in watercolors, a skill that eventually caught the interest of a young man named Rick Irish while she was attending high school in Ventura.

Rick was impressed with Deborah’s art and made it a point to let her know. The two later began dating and have been inseparable ever since. The two have been married for 36 years.

Deborah and Rick moved to Menifee in 1989 with their two children, who were only 3 years old and 5 months at the time. The Irish family was able to grow right alongside the city that they still call home to this day. It was around this time that Deborah began painting with acrylics and began working as a professional muralist part-time.

The artist reflects fondly on her early days as a professional artist:

“I started experimenting with acrylics, painting murals and faux finishes in our own home,” she said. “Before I knew it, I was painting for friends, then friends of friends and so on.”

Deborah has been active in the community and is a member of the National Association for Female Executives and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. In 2015, Irish also became a patron for Arts Council Menifee. Her decision to join ACM was not only inspired by her love for art, but also from her desire to connect with local artists to help promote her company, Art Uncorked, a paint-n-sip company she launched in 2014. It was Irish’s goal to introduce art to as many people while having fun and she has succeeded on both counts! Sharing art with others is one of Irish’s main life passions.

Deborah had the following to say about Art Uncorked:

“Creativity is a gift and if we deny ourselves this gift, we deny ourselves the pleasure that creating art brings. Pablo Picaso said, “’rt washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.’ When we create art, we can have the same feelings of falling in love. This is why I am so passionate; I know how enriching art is in my life.
“Art can enrich everyone’s life, if they allow themselves to not worry about the outcome and embrace the process. The process, the action of creating art, is where all those good feelings come from. Although, I have to say the results I see at the end of my Art Uncorked painting parties are impressive.”

Another passion of Deborah Irish is to grow as an artist. Deborah made a pilgrimage to Stapleton, Nebraska on Aug. 21, 2017 to see The Great American Solar Eclipse. The trip was an experience that was not only unforgettable, but also life changing. Deborah has since strived to reproduce the image of a complete solar eclipse in her paintings and succeeds in conveying the beauty of the sun’s corona in ways that conventional photographic equipment simply cannot capture.

Irish feels like her responsibility as an artist is to paint what a total solar eclipse looks and feels like and based on the paintings displayed on her fine art website, www.deborahirish.com, it looks like she is doing just that.

It is because of Deborah Irish’s passion for perfecting and sharing her craft that she was nominated by Arts Council Menifee trustee, Lynne Hartung., who shared the following:

"Deborah has remarkable skills as an artist and teacher. I took my first art class from her and she was able to guide me through a most wonderful creative journey that resulted in a painting even my husband admired! Deborah Irish is a kind, patient, and caring person that is always there to help any way she can."