About the Artist
" Painting the looser side of realism."
"Debra Joyce Dawson, AIS, paints colorful, evocative outdoor landscapes. She travels extensively, and her paintings serve as a painterly record of a moment in time, whether it be in Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, or in 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; while her studio works are larger and more complex in idea and execution. 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, Former Director Zanesville Museum of Art
Signature Member, American Impressionist Society
Founding Member & immediate Past President Ohio Plein Air Society (OPAS)
• OPAS Curated Exhibition, OAC Riffe Gallery, Curator, Charlotte Gordon, Dec. - Feb. 2026
• Juror, Peninsula Art Gallery, Canton, OH, 2026
• Juror, Cincinnati Women's Art Club, 2026
• Award in Artists Magazine's "Over 60 Competition", Basil was her Soul Mate.
• CHAIR, Ohio Plein Air 21st Annual Plein Air Competition: Sept. 20 - 22, 2024
• SOLO EXHIBITION: "Inside & Out": recent works from Ohio, Ireland & Brittany: Opening April 6, 2024, Sharon Weiss Gallery, Columbus, OH
• 2024 Evendale Fine Art Exhibit, OH, 2024 Judge
• Ohio's Changing Seasons": Oct. 26, 2023- Jan. 1, 2024, 2nd Place, Curator, Laine Snyder, Director, Zanesville Museum of Art
• WOSU TV's "Broad & High": "The Art and Artists of the Supreme Court of Ohio Contemporary Art Collection"
• 19th Annual OPAS Plein Air Competition, Sept. 2022, 2nd Place & Artists' Choice Award, Judge, Carol Strock Wasson, IN
• Ohio Valley Plein Air, Wheeling, WV, October 2022 Judge
• "The Best of Ohio Plein Air Society", October 14 - December 18, 2021, McConnell Art Center, Worthington, OH
• Juror, Foothills Exhibition, Jackson, OH, October 2021
• "Piqua Plein Air Competition", Sept. 2021, Top Prize: 1st Place
• "Piqua Fine Art Exhibition", Sept. 10 - Oct. 1, 2021, Apple Tree Gallery, Piqua, OH: 1st Place Oil
• 17th Bryn Du Juried National Art Show, March 5 - March 27, 2021
• 2020 Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional, Reinert Fine Art, Charleston, SC
• American Impressionist 2020 Society Online Juried Exhibition, Ned Mueller, Juror.
• Oil Painters of America Virtual Salon Exhibition of Traditional Oils.
• 2020 "Best of America" National Oil and Acrylics Painters Society, McBride Gallery, Annapolis, McBride Art Gallery, Annapolis, MD
*** AWARD: Best Technique & Application, from Juror, Daniel Gerhartz.
• Bryn Du Juried Art Show National, March 7 - March 21, 2020
• "The Best of Ohio Plein Air Society 2018", Ten Gallery, Kent, OH, 3rd Place
• "Self", The Sharon Weiss Gallery, April 2018
• 8th Solo Exhibition, The Sharon Weiss Gallery, September 30 - October 30, 2016
• 74th Rockford Midwestern Biennial 2016, Rockford Museum of Art, IL
• Art 360° Columbus, 5 museum traveling exhibition 2015-17
• 16th Annual American Impressionist Exhibition 2015, Trailside Galleries, AZ
• 2015 Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Juried Exhibition, Eckert & Ross Fine Art, Indianapolis, IN
• July 2015 Artist-in-Residence, Les Amies de la Grande Vigne, Dinan, Bretagne , France
http://www.outdoorpainter.com/ohio-plein-air-society-in-residency/
• Plein Air Mt. Lebanon Invitational 2014 - 3rd Place & 2nd Place Quick Draw
http://www.pleinaircollector.com/Artists-vie-for-3K-Top-Prize-in-Mt-Lebanon/20194788
• Winner - 2012 Art in the Open Contest - sponsored by Plein Air Artists website!
• Finalist (Landscape/Interior) in the 2010 'The Artist's Magazine Competition' (Dec. 2010 issue)
• Top Prize Winner - 'Art at the Arnold 2010' - purchased by Gov. Arnold Swartzenegger
• Hiawatha National Forest Artist in Residence 2004
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS:
Columbus Museum of Art, OH • Richmond Art Museum, IN • Ohio Arts Council • Ohio Supreme Court • Ohio Historical Society • Central Ohio Diabetes Association • Open Heart Recovery Unit, University Hospital, Baltimore, MD
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS around the USA, Australia, England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, B. Eric Rhoads (Publisher Plein Air Magazine and Fine Art Connoissuer Magazine), Don Grote (Donato's Pizza), and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
PUBLICATIONS:
Click Here and read my Artist Profile article in the
October/November 2016 Plein Air Magazine.
- OutdoorPainter.com, December 18, 2013, "Tips for Painting in Freezing Temps"
- OutdoorPainter.com, December 2013, "Close Up: Debra Joyce Dawson at the Markay Cultural Arts Center"
- Southwest Art, June 2013 "A Passion for Plein Air"
- The Artist's Magazine, April 2012: "Makimg Your Own Mark"
- The Artist's Magazine, December 2010 (Annual Competition issue)
- American Art Collector, May 2009
- Contemporary American Realism: 2008, Ft. Wayne Museum of Art - 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
"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
Recent Works
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