Tanya Debarry is a long time New Jersey resident who lives Morris County with her family. Her passion for art started in childhood which was full of creativity, music and the magic of the natural world. Her mother (an artist with a green thumb) taught her the names of local plants, about sketching, color and perspective. In fact, Tanya’s first major artistic influence was her mother’s graphic linocuts, for which she had a unique perspective. While Mama Debarry worked in her studio, Tanya would often hide under the drafting table. Seated on top of a pile of discarded mat boards, Tanya would pick colored pencils and crayons out of her father’s old tool box and draw to her little heart’s content.

Tanya Debarry went to Rutgers University to study Art History and American Studies and had a particular interest in Soviet Nonconformist art and Women's Studies. She also spent a summer exploring the museums in Paris with her classmates and Rutgers professors. There she was most inspired by the stained glass of St. Chapelle, Rubens's juicy female figures in the Medici cycle and the elegant marble sculptures of Rodin.

A dedicated and lifelong student, Debarry also studied Graphic Design at the Art Institute and Digital Design at the New School for Design. Additionally, she took fine arts classes at Mason Gross, Du Cret and the School of Visual Arts. Serving her well, Debarry’s education is the foundation of a professional career that now spans 20+ years in the fields of design, web, print and packaging, with a focus on brand identity.

In terms of Debarry’s personal work, in recent years her art reemerged as a form of stress relief and play. In addition to paints and brushes, tools Debarry now uses include protractors, quilting templates and her father’s drafting compass to make her patterns. Debarry works primarily with acrylic paints and acrylic markers. Her work incorporates her Ukrainian heritage, her love of symmetry and sacred geometry with her passion for color.