" . . . painting the looser side of realism "

  • Founding member, past President, past Trustee and Board Chair
  • Regional Editor Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine
  • Commissioned by the Ohio Arts Council to paint 9 plein air works for the recipients of the
        2012 Governor's Awards for the Arts
  • Winner in the 2010 'The Artist's Magazine Competition' (Dec. 2010 issue)
  • Top Prize Winner - 'Art at the Arnold 2010'
  • Permanent Collections : Columbus Museum of Art; Richmond Art Museum, IN;
    Ohio Supreme Court; Ohio Historical Society; Central Ohio Diabetes Association;
    Open Heart Recovery Unit, University Hospital, Baltimore, MD 
  • Private collections: in the USA, England, France and New Zealand,
        Publisher B. Eric Rhoades, Jim Grote (Donato's Pizza) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

      "Debra Joyce Dawson paints colorful, evocative outdoor landscapes. She travels extensively, and her paintings can serve as a painterly travelogue to India, Bhutan, England, Ireland, as well as to her more local surroundings. Her medium of choice is oil, with preparatory sketches in graphite, charcoal, pen or watercolor. Some works are small and completed en plein air; other works are larger and more complex renderings done in her studio. Her energy and delight in color, light, and shape are dazzling. But she never surrenders her subject, and each building, boat, hillside, or human figure is carefully pinned to the picture plane in the context of its surroundings. This places her in the best context of American Impressionism, whether one considers John Singer Sargent or Ohio’s own Alice Schille or Edward Henry Potthast."
                Susan Talbot-Stanoway, Director Zanesville Museum of Art

2012 Calendar:
  • Extended through April : "Small Works Show"
                                     Bennington Center for the Arts , Vermont
  • October 18: Oil Demo and Talk,7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         Sponsored by Gahanna Area Art League

SAVE THE DATE!
  • June 1, 2012 Opening : "6th Solo Exhibition",  Exhibition dates June 1 - 30, 2012
                            Sharon Weiss Gallery, 20 E. Lincoln Street, Columbus, OH

2012 Workshops & Classes :
"Effective Color Harmonies with the Set Palette"
  •  For details see Page 30 of catalog
  •  June 28, 29, 30, 2012
     Sponsored by Peninsula School of Art, Fish Creek, WI
     To reserve a space : email info@PeninsulaSchoolofArt.com - 920.868.3455

Art Classes - 740.927.3078
  •  Plein air   •  Mentoring classes
  •  Drawing and studio oil painting at my home studio

Publications:

  • The Artists Magazine, December 2010
  • American Art Collector, May 2009
  • Contemporary American Realism: 2008 - Exhibition catalog
  • Tashi Delek Magazine, Druk Air's in-flight magazine
         2007 July - September issue - pages 38 - 44
         http://www.tashidelek.in/pdfs/july07.pdf
  • American Artist Magazine feature article titled:
         “Painting En Plein Air in South India,” January 2006
  • TimeLine Magazine, back cover, March 2005
  • Plein Air Magazine, January 2005
  • The Land We Call Ohio, full-color book 2003

Artist Bio & Galleries Below.

Personal Website : www.debrajoycedawson.com
 Blog : http://prismatic-palette.blogspot.com/

• March 5 -7 : "Art at the Arnold", Columbus, OH  
Debra won the top prize at this event!
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
purchased her alla prima oil!
"Ballroom Dancing to the Matrix", 16" x 20", Oil
Click on thumbnail to enlarge.

Artist Biography:
Energetic, exciting and colorful are all words that immediately come to mind when you first see Debra Joyce Dawson’s oil paintings. From her landscapes painted on location to her figurative works created in the studio, Debra’s artwork always conveys her passion for the mood and atmosphere she finds in her subjects.

Constantly challenging herself to keep her work fresh with new subject matter, Debra frequently travels the world in search of a heart-stopping moment of light on the land or an arresting face or costume. Having already painted extensively in Europe, Asia, Puerto Rico, and throughout North America, she has completed a third painting excursion to India and Bhutan in early 2009 and in late 2010, Debra had an exciting painting experience in Cuba. In the past two years, Debra's work has been exhibited widely in several national shows including, “Contemporary American Realism: 2008” at the Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, “Viewpoint: 2008 & 2010” at the Wessel Gallery in Cincinnati, May 2009 at the “18th Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition,” in Santa Fé, and in October 2010, Debra's work was featured in both the OPA Eastern Regional Exhibition, in Wilmington, NC and in the American Impressionist Society's National Exhibition, in Nashville, TN. Regionally, in June 2009, Debra's work was featured in a solo exhibition at the Zanesville Museum of Art, and in July, Debra was a returning artist at the Door County Plein Air Festival, Fish Creek, WI. In 2009 - 10, Debra's teaching credits included plein air workshops in Ohio, and a painting workshop in Dehli, India for the employees at Adobe who work on the Illustrator Program. In recent years, she was also selected to paint in the national Plein Air Easton! and in the 1st and 3rd Door Country Plein Air Festivals. Debra has served as Artist-in-Residence for Michigan’s Hiawatha National Forest, and was one of six central Ohio artists who worked on the 2003 Bicentennial Paint Ohio Project. Recent awards include the Top Prize at the March 2010 Art at the Arnold Painting and Drawing International Competition in Columbus OH, The Eisele Gallery Award at the Viewpoint: 2010 National Exhibition, Cincinnati, OH, and an Honorable Mention in The Artist's Magazine Competition.

Painting since “Santa” brought her that first set of oil paints in 5th grade, Debra pursued formal art training in Maryland and New Jersey. Marriage brought her from her home state of Maryland to Ohio, where she returned to the study of art at Capital University, Denison University, and at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Today she continues her education by taking workshops with many plein air masters, such as Ken Cadwallader, OPA; Michael Dudash, OPA; Mark Hanson, OPA; Frank LaLumia, PAPA, OPA; Peggy Kroll-Roberts, AISM; Ken Auster, and Carolyn Anderson, AISM.

Debra’s dedication to excellence in art has resulted in numerous awards and accolades. Her paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio Historical Society, Central Ohio Diabetes Association, Hiawatha National Forest, Munising, MI, Westerville Public Library and University Hospital, Baltimore, MD; in private collections around the U.S. - including Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Caribbean, Canada, England and New Zealand; and have been reproduced as limited-edition prints, calendars, and greeting cards, and in such publications as American Art Collector Magazine, American Artist Magazine, The Artist's Magazine, Tashi Delek Magazine, Plein Air Magazine, and a book titled The Land We Call Ohio, among others. Debra’s work has also been selected for inclusion in the prestigious Oil Painters of America’s national and regional exhibitions. A believer in giving back to the community of artists, Debra is a founding member, past president, and current Trustee of The Ohio Plein Air Society.

Debra’s sixth solo exhibition at the Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus, Ohio opens June 2012.
The Eisele Gallery of Fine Art in Cincinnati, Ohio also represents her work.

Galleries:

THE EISELE GALLERY
5729 Dragon Way, Cincinnati, Ohio 45227  • 513.791.7717
www.EiseleFineArt.com

THE SHARON WEISS GALLERY
20 E. Lincoln Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215 • 614.291.5683
Hours: Thursday, Noon - 4:00 PM; Friday & Saturday, Noon - 5:00 PM; Sunday, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
www.sharonweissgallery.com
 

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