My latest work focuses on the tragic losses of the 21st century, specifically the extinction of bird species, and the impact of climate change on migration and bird populations. 

The feathers in my textile paintings, sculptures and installations are cut from fused recycled plastic bags and silk-screened with images from my drawings of endangered birds. The feathers are overprinted with text about habitat fragmentation and the sad statistics of declining bird populations in endangered languages such as Tzotzil, Yakme, Shorthand and Yiddish, whose last living speakers/users are in steep decline. 

Plastic feathers embed a layered narrative that address the global consumerism driving loss of both bird and human habitat. I have thus been able to use my prior experience and training in wallpaper and textile design in the service of broad ecological and cultural concerns.

Following her training in textile design at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Deborah Kruger has taught, lectured and exhibited her climate conscious artwork in museums and galleries throughout the US, Mexico and Europe since the 1980s.

Two upcoming solo museum exhibitions will feature wall reliefs, sculpture, and installations: Turbulence: Birds, Beauty, Language & Loss opens at the Museum at PALCCO in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2022 and travels to the Visions Art Museum, San Diego, CA in 2023.  

Her prize-winning work about endangered birds was featured at the Bernard Heller Museum, New York City, the Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC, the Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, GA, and at the Diego Rivera Museum, in Mexico City.