Dorothy Fagan

Paradise I - Abstract Whimsical Landscape Oil Painting

2023

Dorothy Fagan knew she would be an artist in the second grade, when Sister Pauline encouraged her with colored chalks, to draw the Virgin Mary on the chalkboard. A Freshman art student at East Carolina University, Dorothy painted a triptych pastel landscape, super-imposed over a woman's reclining body. She had no idea the painting was a reflection of her soul-self and the challenges she would face in becoming an artist. With her B.F.A. in Printmaking and Painting, she went on to complete a ten-year American Masters Painting Mentorship with Robert Bowers Mayo, Valentine Museum, and Gallery Mayo in Richmond, Virginia. A young mother, she won international recognition at the Pastel Society of America, & Pastel Society of Canada, exhibiting her work at the Copley Society in Boston, and the National Arts Club in New York City, the Virginia Museum, Hermitage Museum, and Virginia Contemporary Museum of Art. Assaulted in her studio at knife-point, Dorothy began digging the woman out from under the mountain. She could no longer paint the beautiful landscapes she'd painted the day before. PTSD wasn't a thing back then. Dorothy was on her own trying to unearth the artist she thought she lost. Her mountain of trauma provided step by step clues to recovering her. Fagan's art is included in collections including; Musee de La Grande Vigne, Dinan, France; City University of New York, Longwood Art Museum, Towne Bank, Boston Children's Hospital, U. Mass Memorial Hospital, AAA, and numerous private collectors.