Born June 9, 1961 Deborah grew up just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has been drawing and painting from the time she was able to first hold a crayon. At the age of 16, she received a scholarship to attend the Philadelphia College of Art foundation program. She began her studies with a full scholarship to attend the Museum School of Fine Arts and Tufts University where she earned a BFA and BS in Art Education respectively. Having sensitivity to children with special needs, Deborah developed and taught art therapy, which she designed in particular for SED children. Trained as a painter, her works actually began on paper with a series of abstract oil pastels, which were displayed in selected galleries throughout Boston and were on loan at the Massachusetts State House.

Upon moving to NYC in 1993, Deborah developed an interest in fine art photography and began a series shot in Coney Island, NY. Continuing her work with abstract oil pastel on paper, she was represented by the Abney Gallery in SoHo, and sold in auction at Sotheby's. In 1997, she joined a diverse group of writers and artists residing in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and was represented by the Driskel Gallery exhibiting photographic works. Her show entitled "Pure" was chosen as a "best bet" in the Cape Cod Times. Deborah currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

After many years, she has come back full circle and is emerging as a painter working out of Studio 528, her loft in Downtown, LA. Her works in progress include a documentation of American iconography in Polaroid and the transformation of these Polaroid's into oil paintings. Her mural and restoration work can be seen on the ceiling of St. Vibiana's Cathedral and throughout the Spring Arts Tower located in the Historical core of Downtown, LA. She is also a founding member and Director of the Spring Arts Collective Gallery, located on Gallery Row in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Deborah's work as a painter is soon to be featured in New Ameican Paintings Studio Visit Magazine due out in October 2008.

“Martin’s works are beautiful, delicate, exquisite and touching. Her paintings pier right through the heart. We live in a society that values the trendy, the current and the new, but Martin captivates us with the old, the abandoned and the discarded. Perhaps she is unconsciously reminding us through her paintings not to take those old things for granted. For those old things were once a part of our lives, whatever it may be.”