“Sister, Sister: Masters’ Final Sculpture Project Looks Inward”
The Orion, January 30, 1991
By Courtney Rastatter

The three sculptures seem to loom over the Rose Garden, their massive figures casting a protective presence over their new home. Students who have been on campus during intersession may have noticed the forms covered in black plastic, wondering what they were.
For the past two weeks Deborah Masters and her assistants have been chipping away at the molds. Standing nine and a half to ten feet tall, the sculptures are of three women clad in long robes.
Masters’ sculptures are derived from and named after Antoine Chekov’s play The Three Sisters which deals with the three sides to everyone’s personality: strength, weakness and ambiguity. Masters wants to bring out the same introspective feelings of the play in the women. Through the size, shape, curves and angles of their bodies, she hopes to bring those characteristics to life.
The women’s faces look lost in thought and sad, portraying a feeling of weakness, Masters said. But from behind, their figures have very broad backs depicting hard work and resilience. The side, however, illustrates the query about life.
“When a passer-by looks at the side, they will not get any direction as to what to expect from the front or back,” Masters said, “It will be a surprise to see the emotion captured in clay.”
Masters said, the broad backs are an illustration of herself. “Most of my work is personal to a point. That is why the backs are broad, because mine is.”
Masters brings self-portrayals and expression to all her pieces. Her work represents women’s position in society today.
When the University first asked her to create the sculptures, she pointed out the locations she wanted. She had decided on the Rose Garden.
“I wanted it here because it is a very beautiful area and very well cared for, and it is a place to sit and think,” Masters said. She hopes students will appreciate not only the sanctuary of the garden but the aura of the statues as well.
While in New York last year, Michael Bishop, art professor at Chico State, came across Masters’ works during a show. Along with Donald Hines and James Kuiper, chairman of the art department, Bishop commissioned Masters to come to Chico State to do sculptures.
“I did not have the problems with red tape that everyone else seems to have here,” Masters said, adding that Kuiper and Hines had been very supportive in helping her finish the project quickly.
Last fall Masters also supervised and helped create the monoliths near Ayres Hall. Her own monolith depicts the sky she saw one night from her apartment in New York.
She pushed her students to express themselves while sculpting their monoliths. “I used to scream at them to put feeling into it, then make them do it over.”
Masters came here to do the sculptures and also to teach Bishop’s beginning, intermediate and advanced sculpture classes. She said that teaching, “is very demanding.” Chico State gave her a studio at the University Farm to do her models. When she was not at the farm, she was at the Rose Garden putting models together at their chosen sites.
Masters’ student assistants included Kim Couchot who made all the molds for the statues. She is putting Couchot’s name on the plaque at the location because, “she will never get the credit that she deserves.” Geoff Wilcox is also an assistant and helped with the unveiling of the women. Chris Bradley helped Masters detail each sculpture.
Masters does not have any plans to do more sculptures at Chico. “I think there is enough around here for now,” she said. She plans to leave for New York later this week but she has permanently left her mark on Chico State.