Debra Wood
Debra Wood is the current owner of River Market ArtSpace located one-half mile from the Clinton Presidential Library. She grew up in North Little Rock, Arkansas and later went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music and Theater from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Wood continued her education at the American University in Washington, D.C. While in graduate school, Wood interned at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts, and Arena Stage. Wood had recently earned her Master’s Degree in Performing Arts Management when then Governor Bill Clinton was elected to be President. Because of Clinton, Wood became the Director of Presidential Student Correspondence for 8 years at the White House.
When Wood returned to her home of Arkansas, she attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Clinton Presidential Library. After the ceremony she went into the River Market ArtSpace, which was then owned by Susan Strauss. Strauss overheard Wood talking that night about the hopes of having a gallery of her own and later offered to sell. Within six months, ArtSpace was under the new ownership of Debra Wood.
Debra Wood who is now 41 runs ArtSpace without any employees, yet always has the company of her dog, Musby. Musby is always at the gallery carrying the title of “director of customer service”, and is an artist herself as she paints paw prints with acrylics and watercolors.
One of Wood’s many successes includes the collaborated concept of Second Friday Art Night, the monthly event which allows art patrons to travel by trolley to visit several downtown galleries. Wood donates a certain portion of the proceeds from Art Night to the Humane Society, the Pulaski County Juvenile Detention Center’s Art Outreach Program, and other local nonprofit organizations.
