Artist Biography

Debra Cook Shapiro is a San Francisco painter of figures and landscapes who has been pursuing her passion for art since she moved to California in 1984 from St. Louis, Mo. She studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute and Academy of Art College, the Istituto Lorenzo de Medici (Florence, Italy), Istituto per l'Arte e il Ristauro (Florence, Italy), the University of California, Berkeley Post-Baccalaureate in Painting (San Francisco, CA). Shapiro had solo exhibitions at the French Consul Residence, (San Francisco, CA), Ice House Gallery, (Petaluma, CA), and Summerhouse, (Mill Valley, CA). Her work has been selected in San Francisco group shows at Arc gallery, Office of the California State Senator, Scott Weiner, Mirus Gallery and 111 Minna Gallery.

Shapiro exhibited work in Superfine Art Fair, San Francisco, 2023 and 2025, and The Superfair, Brooklyn, NewYork, 2025 and the LA Art Show 2024 with Teravarna Gallery ,Irvine , CA. Her work has been in group shows at Abend Gallery, Denver, Colorado and Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Shapiro’s work is in domestic and international collections. 

In 2023, Shapiro was awarded a scholarship for a residency in Venice, Italy, at the European Cultural Academy. She had a residency in Healdsburg, CA at Chalk Hill Artist’s residency in 2015.

Teaching private lessons and workshops, Debra continues the thread to her original career as a classroom instructor. She also coaches individual students online and in person. Shapiro has completed bespoke pieces for clients in the US, the UK and France and continues to accept a limited number of commissioned pieces per year.

Shapiro is included in the Women United Art Prize Shortlist 2024. She has been featured and interviewed in Arts to Hearts Magazine (print and online exhibitions), Create Magazine (print and online exhibitions), “I Like Your Work” (catalogue), and New Visionary Magazine (print and online exhibitions). Her work was featured in the "Artists of the Bay Area" book published by Jen Tough Gallery in 2021. Shapiro work was selected by curator Stephanie Tuttle in 2024 and 2025 to participate in the Spectrum gala to benefit Access Institute for Mental Health in San Fransisco.