" . . . painting the looser side of realism "

'09 Solo Exhibition: Fresh Paint - May 16 - July 3
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.
      Her work has been exhibited widely, over the past year in several national shows including, “Contemporary American Realism: 2008” at the Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, “Viewpoint 2008” at the Wessel Gallery in Cincinnati, and in May 2009 at the “18th Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition,” Sage Creek Gallery, Santa Fé.
      Regionally, this year Dawson's work is featured in a solo exhibition at the Zanesville Arts Center May 16 – July 3, 2009, reception and gallery talk and demo June 6, 1:30-3pm.
      In July, Debra returns to paint in the Door Country Plein Air Invitational in Fish Creek, Wisconsin.
                             Susan Talbot-Stanoway, Director Zanesville Art Center

  • Founding member, trustee, past president & past Board Chair
  • Regional Editor "Fine Art Connoisseur" Magazine

2009 Calendar:
  • May 1 - 31 : Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition
    4th acceptance into this prestigious exhibition
    Sage Creek Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. www.sagecreekgallery.com
      200 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501 - 505.988.3444
    View my painting on my personal site or blog - web addresses below
  • May 16th - July 3 : Solo Exhibition, Zanesville Art Center
    Talk and demo June 6th 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
  • July 2 : Slide Lecture: Columbus Museum of Art - Noon - 1:00 PM
  • July 19 : Door County Invitational Plein Air Festival
  • September 9 - October 28 : painting in India

Workshops :
  •  June 13 & 14: Plein Air Workshop, Cincinnati
      Email : workshops@cincinnatiartclub.com to reserve a space

Art Classes - 740-927-3078
  •  Plein air
  •  Mentoring classes
  •  Drawing and studio oil painting at my home studio

Publications:
      Contemporary American Realism: 2008 - Exhibition catalog
      www.createbetterpaintings.com - an online artzine
         "Artist to Artist: interview with Michael McEwan", March 2008
     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/
 

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 second painting excursion to India and Bhutan in early 2007. This past year, Debra’s work was included in exhibitions at the National Arts Club in New York City, and in Vermont at the Bennington Arts Center’s Artist’s Abroad Invitational Exhibition, in the Peninsula Art School's Invitational Door County Plein Air Festival in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, as well as upcoming participation in Cincinnati Art Club’s ViewPoint 2007 and Ohio Landscapes at Ohio’s Springfield Museum. Recent awards were received at the 5th Worldwide Paintout Competition, Niagara Falls, Ontario, the 4th Ohio Plein Air Society Competition (OPAS), and a Best of Show at the ‘07 OPAS Winter Juried Exhibition in Columbus, OH. In recent years, she was also selected to paint in the national Plein Air Easton! A juried competition held in Maryland, 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.

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, Mark Hanson, OPA, Frank LaLumia, Ken Auster and Carolyn Anderson.

Debra’s dedication to excellence in art has resulted in numerous awards and accolades. Her paintings are included in the permanent collections of the 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., 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 Artist Magazine, Tashi Delek Magazine, Plein Air Magazine, American Art Collector Magazine and a book titled The Land We Call Ohio, among others. For the past three years, 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, immediate past president, and current Trustee of The Ohio Plein Air Society.

Debra’s fifth solo exhibition at the Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus, Ohio opens June 2010, and her work has also been selected for the 2008 Ft. Wayne Museum of Art's Contemporary American Realism Exhibition opening in September 13. The Pierre-Paul Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan also represents her work.

Galleries:

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

G.C. LUCAS GALLERY
4930 N. Pennsylvania, Indianapolis, Indiana 46205 • 317.255.4000

 

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