BIOGRAPHY

Deborah Valoma is an artist, writer, professor, and professor in the Textiles Programs at California College of the Arts in San Fracisco.

Her interdisciplinary work considers textiles through multiple theoretical lenses including embodiment, materiality, ephemerality, and indigeneity. In addition to developing and teaching a comprehensive series of textile history and theory courses, Deborah has written articles and catalogue essays, presented papers, and curated exhibitions on related topics. She published the book Scrape the Willow Until It Sings that traces the indigenous philosophies and practices of Julia Parker, the premier Native American basket weaver in California.

Deborah is currently working on a multi-year interdisciplinary project that began when she inventoried a collection of one hundred heirloom textiles inherited from her grandmother—most made by her foremothers in villages in Ottoman Turkey and the Armenian diaspora. A combination of research, archiving, and responsive making, this project addresses the role of textiles as signifiers of identity and agents of cultural continuity.

Areas of Interest

Textile history + theory
Material culture + materiality
Memory + post-memory
Heritage studies + practices
Cultural continuity + authenticity
Pattern + repetition

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