Deborah Hecht and I have been friends for nearly four decades. Her mother introduced us (another story!). We both measure a hair under 5’.  Our sons were born a month apart. We share an affinity for lots of color, whimsy and have been known to buy the same set of dishes among other things.  Given the chance, she will proffer a dissimilarity — my feet are four sizes larger than hers.

Deborah knew she was an artist from the first crayon. She remembers making the pronouncement when she was six years old that she was an artist I did make a pronouncement at age 6 that I was or was going to be an artist.

I have had the joy of watching her artistry evolve from paintings on tile, to carved tile installations to found-object sculptures to her latest oeuvre — crazy-wonderful collages made entirely from the beach trash she finds on her walks along Lake Michigan. Those four bags snuggled up to her? Balloons. Deborah’s collages are as gorgeous as they are heartbreaking. How careless too many humans are. Thankfully, there are the rare humans who see the potential in what others toss and use it to make art.