The Peters Valley Gallery is pleased to present Other World: the Art of Debora Meltz, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-born artist Debora Meltz, on view from March 1 – April 11, 2026. Working across sculpture, printmaking, and mixed media, Meltz’s work is known for its darkly humorous, creepily beautiful presence and its refusal to behave.

Born in Brooklyn and educated at The Cooper Union (BFA) and William Paterson University (MFA, Printmaking), Meltz has spent decades fearlessly moving between materials and methods. Her practice encompasses an expansive range of media including clay, woodcut, etching, encaustic, glass, metal, photography, and more often within a single body of work. This material fluency allows her ideas to dictate form, rather than the other way around.

Meltz’s sculptural work, much of it developed over the last twenty-five years, occupies a charged emotional space where humor, discomfort, and beauty coexist. One collector famously purchased a large piece after repeatedly declaring how much it frightened her, a response Meltz considers a success.

Her artistic practice has been deeply informed by a life of teaching, travel, and advocacy. After a brief career in advertising, Meltz spent years as a high school art teacher in the New York City public school system. In 1994, she joined the Board of Directors of Domestic Abuse Services, Inc. (DASI), producing award-winning educational and fundraising materials that sharpened her commitment to work that communicates, provokes, and matters.

Meltz has been a longtime member of Peters Valley School of Craft, where she first learned many of the techniques she still uses today. She currently serves on its Board of Directors. At this stage in her life, she describes her studio practice as fully liberated: guided by curiosity, experience, and a hard-won sense of creative freedom.

Other World: the art of Debora Meltz reflects that freedom. The works on view invite viewers to laugh, recoil, linger, and look again, often all at once.

An opening reception will be held on March 1st, 2026 from 3-5pm at the Gallery at Peters Valley School of Craft, located at 19 Kuhn Rd. Layton, NJ 07851. The Gallery is open Thursday through Tuesday, from 11am – 5pm.