Dorothy Fagan knew she would be an artist, when the nuns encouraged her to copy a picture of the Virgin Mary a box of colored chalk. As a young mother, she won international recognition at Pastel Society of America, Pastel Society of Canada, Copley Society, and the National Arts Club.

When an assailant's knife threatened her life, Dorothy found her voice with color to express deeply held emotion. Transforming trauma into strokes of color juxtaposed light and dark worlds led her on her incredible healing journey home. 

During residencies in France and Italy in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018, she developed her chakra palette. 

Dorothy's colorful pastels, oil paintings, mixed media, and fiber art stand apart in international collections including; Musee de La Grande Vigne, Dinan, France, Boston Children's Hospital, U Mass. Memorial Research Center, City University of New York, and Longwood University Art Museum.

Studying oil painting and watercolors as a child, Dorothy completed her B.F.A. in Printmaking and Painting at East Carolina University in 1974. In a ten-year Master Painting Mentorship, Robert Bowers Mayo guided Dorothy to look inside herself in painting from her heart. 

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Exhibitions 

2019  Peninsula Fine Art Center Newport News, VA
          By Land(scape), or by Water(color)  April-May 2019

2019  Abbaye de Lehon, Lehon, France
2014   Musee de La Grande Vigne, Dinan, France

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Born in Morristown, New Jersey in 1953, Dorothy Fagan is the eldest daughter of a music teacher and a mechanical engineer. At age 8, through the encouragement of her mother Pauline, Dorothy discovered both her love of music and painting. Playing the organ at church, and taking sculpture and painting lessons with her mother, the foundation for her artistry had already begun.

At 14, Dorothy received her first award for painting and went on to win first place in a five-county student competition in Morristown, New Jersey. Graduating from East Carolina University with a B.F.A. in Printmaking and Painting, she married and moved to rural southeastern Virginia in 1974. Raising three sons, she painted at nap time and sent her paintings to New York City to compete in international juried exhibitions. At age 25, she achieved acceptance into the Pastel Society of America. 

Her paintings were exhibited at the prestigious National Arts Club in New York City, and purchased by the City University of New York. Her oil paintings followed with the American Artists Professional League at the famous Salmagundi Club in New York. At home, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, the Hermitage Museum, the Virginia Contemporary Museum of Art, and the Longwood Art Museum exhibited her pastel paintings.

Her father, Jack Fagan, encouraged Dorothy in conversations about the nature of creativity. A WWII vet injured at the Battle of the Bulge, his life was an inspiration to Dorothy. Her paintings made during his passing in 2013, tell the final chapter of their special connection in her book, High on a Hill with a Cloud and a Prayer.

Fagan's art is included in collections on five continents, including the Musee de La Grande Vigne, Dinan, France, Longwood University Art Museum, U Mass Memorial Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Camp LeJeune Mental Health Hospital, AAA, City University of New York, International Paper, and numerous corporate and private collections.

 

Dorothy Fagan is represented by

Chasen Galleries, Richmond, VA.

 

Solo Shows

Gallery Mayo, Richmond, VA 1979
Dorsey Gallery, Roanoke, VA 1980
Virginia Contemporary Museum of Fine Art, 1979
Century Gallery, Williamsburg, VA, 1981, 2006
Michelson's, Washington, DC, 1985
JSL Fine Art, 2015
Chesapeake Framing & Art Gallery, Kensington, MD, 2013
Stewart Gallery, Gloucester, VA 2017
Prince George Art & Frame, Williamsburg, VA 2018

 

 

International & National Juried Exhibitions

Musee de La Grande Vigne,  Les invites d’Yvonne Jean-Haffen Exposition, Dinan, France

 

Pastel Society of America, National Juried Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York
Pastel Society of Canada, International Juried Exhibition, Cambrian Rose Gallery, Ottawa
American Artists Professional League, National Juried Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York
G.V.W. Smith Art Museum, National Juried Exhibition, Springfield, MA
Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Prints & Drawings ’81 National Juried Exhibition, Richmond, VA
Virginia Contemporary Museum of Art, Virginia Beach, VA
The Copley Society, Pastel Society of America Members’ Exhibition, Boston, MA
Kansas Pastel Society, National Juried Exhibition
Hermitage Museum, Pastel Society of America Members’ Exhibition, Norfolk, VA
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Pastel Society of America Members’ Exhibition, Newark, NJ

 

Public Collections

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 
Musee de La Grande Vigne, Dinan, France,
City University of New York,
Longwood University Art Museum,
Emory University

 

 

 

HEALTHCARE COLLECTIONS  
U. Mass Memorial Hospital,
Boston Children’s Hospital,
Camp Lejeune Mental Health Facility, 
Wellness Center at The Landing
Riverside Cancer Center, 
Southampton Memorial Hospital
The Village at Woods Edge
Walter Reed Riverside Hospital

CORPORATE COLLECTIONS 
Main Street Preservation Trust, Gloucester, VA
Princess Anne Country Club
Mathews Land Conservancy
Assured Construction  
Williamsburg Land Conservancy
General Electric,
First National Exchange Bank,
International Paper,
Monarch Bank,
Towne Bank,
AAA,
Raycom Media,
Coldwell Banker
Bronco Federal Credit Union
Union Camp Forestry Division
City of Franklin
City of Virginia Beach
Roanoke Athletic Club
Wintergreen Resorts
Union Camp Medical
Franklin Main Street Association

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS in the United States, England, Italy, France, Iceland, Singapore, Jordan, Canada.

 

Residencies, Awards & Education

Artist Residency Florence, Sept – Nov 2017, Independent Painting Writing

Artist Residency Florence, Sept – Nov 2015, Independent Painting Writing

Artist Residency Musee de La Grande Vigne, July – Sept 2013, Dinan, Provence, Paris.

Medal of Honor G.V.W. Smith Art Museum, Academic Artists’ Association

Best in Show  Virginia Contemporary Museum of Art

American Masters Painting Mentorship with Robert Bowers Mayo, Valentine Museum and Gallery Mayo, 1979 – 1989, Richmond, VA. Mayo guided Fagan in developing her unique approach to painting by imparting his understanding of the artist psyche through the works of George Inness, Martin J. Heade, Elliot Clark, and Walter Metcalf.

B. F. A. East Carolina University, 1974, Printmaking and Painting
At East Carolina University, she studied under printmaker Donald Sexauer and painter Ed Reep 1971 - 1974. 

Publications

Joy’s Garden, Embrace the Mountain Dorothy Fagan, 2018

CreativSOUP, Adult Creativity & Coloring, Dorothy Fagan, 2016

100 Plein Air Painters of the Mid-Atlantic, Gary Pendleton, Schiffer Publishing 2014

Joan Cawley Publishing, Fine Art Prints, 2001 - 2011