Arrowmont Connections: Board member Debby Rice weaves textiles and words while sheltering in place

Arrowmont is a special community full of creative people – a family who know that coming together and making art is important. We talk a lot about the Arrowmont Experience – connecting through craft and community. That connection exists beyond physical proximity. It is in shared memories and new ideas. It lives in the friendships we make with each other. It grows when we learn and support one another.

Whether on campus or off, we are connected as members of the Arrowmont family. Over the next few weeks, we are going to share stories from our community of instructors, residents, and students in a new series, Arrowmont Connections.

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Deborah Coburn Rice serves as Secretary on Arrowmont’s Board of Governors. Debby has a multi-media background.  She worked as a production assistant for ABC Sports on four Olympics, Monday Night Football, Wide World of Sports, PGA Golf, NBA Basketball, Superbowls and more.  She was a TV weather and Entertainment reporter for ABC and NBC stations, did 100+ commercials for radio and television, and was a radio announcer.  She is the president of Concept Advertising and Public Relations with clients such as Dr. Dean Edell, Scientific Atlanta, Polycom and five divisions of Sony Corporation.  She is a past president of Saratoga Rotary, and has held numerous positions for Rotary District 5170.

Debby first visited Arrowmont in 1975 when she was working in television in Dayton, OH. When she served as chapter president for the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women at University of Oregon, Debby was responsible for the annual Arrowcraft sales to support the School.

“Arrowmont surfaced later when I was alumnae club president and we were asked to donate $1000 for the building of the new dorm,” Debby said. “I thought that I should know what we were asked to support, so I took my mom and visited first in 1991. I signed up to become a member of the Arrowmont ambassadors I visited 27 alum clubs to tell them what a wonderful treasure Arrowmont was to our fraternity. My alumnae club also performed ‘Come to Arrowmont’ at the Palm Springs Convention before 3500+ Pi Phi’s. Our group was diverse – our oldest member was 84 and she got a standing ovation when we were through.

I began going to spring classes and bringing my friends the next year. It’s a long way to go from California but it has become a spring ritual.

We enjoy the classes that we can take home and continue such as weaving or rug hooking. Three of the group are 8+ year spring workshop veterans.

Arrowmont has brought us much joy, laughter and has strengthened bonds of friendship. My love and appreciation of Arrowmont has continued to grow since my first connection over 50 years ago.”

Debby now lives in Saratoga, CA with her family, and regularly writes for the Saratoga News and San Jose Mercury. She has been sheltering in place at home since the onset of the pandemic, and relies on her craft experiences at Arrowmont to help her stay active and connected to a wider community of artists. She wrote,

“I have been weaving on my Arrowmont-learned cricket loom and have produced weaving for pillows, bags, table runners….and my Arrowmont weavers and I have been communicating about our projects.”

Debby recently contributed an article to her local papers that featured the work of fellow Arrowmont Board member and notable ceramic artist, Janet Harper. Debby focused on how her community is staying active and positive with the help of Mother Nature in the current environment – such as bird watching. The cover image is a bird house created by Janet.

 

Debby wrote, “Can you see the chickadee in Janet’s birdhouse?  It was so much fun to watch them and many people know the details behind the birdhouse. The babies have flown and we are getting ready to host the next family. It was so heartwarming to watch the parents bring caterpillars to the babies — Janet’s birdhouses helped Arrowmont financially and the spillover good emotions are enjoyed by many.”