Sketching on location, Dorothy feels is almost imperative! Actually being there, in an isolated landscape or in the busy harbors, you begin to experience an accumulation of fleeting images, first moment impressions that are found and reflected not only in the existing moment but are later found stalking the latent memories that remain deep in the recesses of her mind. Sketching outdoors becomes a unique way of communicating to oneself and others exactly and precisely what the artist is feeling about this particular place, at a particular time.
"The way I feel about the place is evident in the remembered configurations. I re-invent the landscape according to previous and present knowledge accumulated in passing. Preconceived ideas flow between the layers and lines of actuality and form new associations that reinforce time honored concepts. I do not necessarily want you to see what I see but I want you to experience how I feel about what I see! This basically becomes what I am drawing (the form) and where the object exists (the space) and together shows how I feel about the complexity of the composition (the vision)."
An avid painter, teacher, and traveler, Dorothy 's resume could stretch for many pages. A former advertising/marketing manager, she decided to attend Penn State University to paint while her three children were in elementary school. Given three scholarships, she graduated with a Fine Arts Degree in Painting and Drawing, Master of Science Degree in Architecture, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Art and Architecture through the Art Education Department, all from Penn State.
Extremely interested in the quest of spiritualism of the common people, Dorothy studied iconology and spiritual architecture, visiting several countries with the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture, an affiliate of the American Institute of Architects. She also studied spatial perception and abstract architectural stained glass design at Berkeley and subsequently designed and completed several large religious mosaics and stained glass windows.
After teaching for 6 years in the Fine Arts Department of Penn State, DuBois Campus, she became an Artist-in-Resident for the Pennsylvania Council-on-the-Arts for 12 years. This gave her the exceptional opportunity to travel to 90 Pennsylvania Schools, working with students in designing and completing 76 permanent murals (from 30' to 80' in painted two dimensional wood or sculptured ceramics).
Dorothy has had 51 one-woman exhibitions in galleries and universities across the country and won 60 top prizes in juried shows. She was chosen one of forty women in three countries to present their art in the Delta Kappa Gamma International Juried Show in Chicago. She has extensive teaching experience, given numerous seminars, delivered speeches to art councils and educational facilities, and has illustrated a weekly newspaper series on historical architecture.
She has also been an Artist-on-Board for the Alaska Marine Highway System for 6 years in the Inside Passage and has made six voyages down the Aleutian Chain Trip to Dutch Harbor. Having the opportunity to visit isolated native villages of Alaska gives her paintings a rare intimacy reflecting early and unchanged Alaska. She has camped in a tent or a van for 48 months in Alaska over the past twelve years. She comments: "Each year I am offered new opportunities to paint in other areas of the world. Somehow, Alaska usually wins out and I find when I am not there I am thinking about isolated Alaska shorelines and magnificent mountain vistas."
In the spring of 2001 Dorothy sketched and painted the rugged coastal areas of Ireland. Later in the summer, she experienced flying over and through the Mount McKinley (Denali) Alaskan Range. It was highlighted by landing on the Ruth Glacier which inspired her to begin a series of abstract mountain paintings. "Everyday, I marvel at the wondrous moments I have experienced to perceive our wonderful world and been given the state of mind as well as the extra time to recreate a responsive reality through my art."