Obituary of Deborah Stromsdorfer

Deborah Stromsdorfer of Cottonwood AZ passed away on March 18, 2017 after a several year courageous battle with breast cancer. Born in 1961, the middle child to Rita (Nowakowski) and Fred Stromsdorfer she grew up in Oswego IL, a suburb of Chicago. She attended Oswego High School graduating in 1980 as valedictorian, then continued her education at Northern Illinois University graduating cum laude undergraduate with a BFA in Painting in 1984, and summa cum laude with her MFA in Drawing in 1989. While a college undergrad in 1982 she met the love of her life, Greg Bubp, and they married the next year. Deb was a true renaissance individual with interests in many areas; archeology, paleontology, geology, music, photography, theater, and horticulture were but a few the subjects in which she had a wide breath of knowledge. As an accomplished gourmet cook, she and Greg loved to visit restaurants and then deconstruct the recipes for the dishes to replicate them in her own kitchen. But her main true passion was always art – in various forms. Professionally, she worked as a graphic designer at Northern Illinois University and the UIC College of Medicine in Rockford, then as an art instructor at Rock Valley College teaching design, color theory and drawing. In the 90’s she left teaching to pursue her art career full time. She was a prolific artist herself in several mediums, but painting, drawing and fiber were the primary ones she greatly excelled in. In all her work the focus was on color relationships and the interplay between aesthetic order and natural beauty. Her two dimensional work was exhibited nationally, including New York City, and internationally, in Toronto, Canada, and Athens, Greece. She won numerous awards, and was featured in Who’s Who in American Art, The Artist’s Magazine, and Best of Colored Pencil 2. Deb then branched out, producing and selling a series of one of a kind elaborate handmade jackets and vests of her own design, gaining national exposure in runway fashion shows and being featured in Sew News Magazine. She was also a talented jewelry designer, many pieces which she would wear. Upon moving to Arizona she successfully juried in as a gallery artist at the Sedona Art Center, and at her death her work was still being carried there. Her work is owned by many individual collectors, and is included in corporate collections around northern Illinois. Deb was preceded in death by her parents, and is survived by her husband, Greg Bubp of Cottonwood, AZ, her brother Chris of Streamwood, IL, and sister Dawn of Naperville, IL.