Deborah (Springstead) Ford is currently Executive Director of Playa, Summer Lake Oregon, a residency program for artists, writers, scientists and others involved with research and creative inquiry. She has been an arts advocate, educator and program administrator in addition to being a professional visual artist for over 30 years. She studied photography at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Arizona State University and Goddard College. Ms. Ford has a BFA in Photography, a Master’s in Photography/Art Education and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts. She taught photography full time from 1982-2013, the last 18 years at Prescott College in northern Arizona. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including four Arizona Commission on the Arts Grants, including an Artist Project Grant (2009) and participated in many Artist-in-Residence programs around the country including the Biosphere 2, Ucross Foundation, Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Arts, Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Joshua Tree National Park, Isle Royale National Park, and Aspen Guard Station to name a select few. Her work is found in numerous public and private collections including the Center for Creative Photography, California Museum of Photography (Riverside), Northlight Gallery, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology among others. Her work has been exhibited nationally and recent publications include a profile in Black and White Magazine, Issue #82. (April 2011) and photographs in Orion (November/Decmber 2013) magazine . Her work can also be found on www.artphotoindex.com
