Rate My Professor Deb Hall

Deb Hall served as Associate Professor of Art and Robert Davidson Chair in Art at Skidmore College from 1992 until her retirement in Spring 2023. She earned a BFA in Photographic Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1977, studied graphic design and typography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and Kent State University, and received an MFA in Digital Visual Art from Vermont College. Before joining Skidmore, Hall was designer and co-owner of a design and printing company, working both locally and in Los Angeles. At Skidmore, she developed the Art Department’s communication design curriculum, introduced Interactive Design in 1996, and built the first digital lab. She taught courses including Digital Foundations, Communication Design I, II, and III, and collaborated with Computer Science faculty on interdisciplinary projects pairing design and programming students. Hall directed Project VIS, a three-year Mellon Foundation initiative to enhance visual literacy through a multidisciplinary visual lab, new courses, workshops, and visiting specialists. She chaired the Committee on Educational Policy and Planning, the Advisory Committee for International Study Abroad, and served on the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee, International Review Committee, and groups developing the Media and Film Studies minor. Additionally, she participated in a faculty team visit to China funded by the Freeman Foundation in 2007 and served as a local school board member.

Hall’s digital prints explore themes of design, typography, language, symbols, information, and communication, often addressing anxieties about design saturation’s impact on perception and the human effect on the natural environment. Notable series include Iconographia (2016) and Habit and Habitat. Her work has been exhibited regionally and nationally, with solo exhibitions such as Anthropocenic: Art About the Natural World in the Human Era at Bates College Museum of Art (2019), 677 Prime Gallery (2012), and Habit + Habitat at Tom Myott Gallery (2011). Group shows include Selected Faculty Exhibition at Schick Art Gallery (2021, 2016, 2011), Works on Paper at South Shore Art Center (2018, Juror’s Award), Then & Now at Saratoga Arts Center (2018), and Digitally Propelled Ideas at California Polytechnic University, Pomona (2004, Purchase Award). Her artwork is in permanent collections of the Portland Art Museum, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz, Adirondack Trust Corporate Gallery in Saratoga Springs, and numerous private collections. Awards encompass a Photographer’s Fellowship from the Center for Photography at Woodstock (2012), multiple Juror’s Awards from regional exhibitions (2018, 2011, 2006, 2004, 2003, 1982), NORI Awards (2004, 2007, 2008), National Calendar Award (2003), and Silver CASE Award (2008). As a NASAD team leader and evaluator since 2012, Hall contributed to accreditation site visits and curricular recommendations for art and design institutions nationwide. Her mentorship fostered alumni success in design fields, and she engaged in community projects with SPAC, Caffe Lena, and Saratoga Farmer’s Market.