daraweyna@gmail.com
I am a multi-disciplinary artist working primarily in the mediums of painting, drawing, crochet and collage.
My work is graphic in a style, merging my love for bold colors and curvaceous lines. I find color to be a language that evokes a visceral experience, and I am fascinated by the way certain colors relate to or contend with each other; how sometimes an unlikely pairing can make a surprising and beautiful connection.
In both my landscape and figurative work, I am exploring the physical and emotional connections I have to the female body and the land on which we dwell. These two subjects find commonality in the celebration of their vulnerability and fortitude, and I see them as metaphors for our human experiences of emotional expansion, intimacy, comfort and growth.
At the beginning of 2022, I began using the breast as one of my primary subjects. This became a reflection on the joyful memories of raising my babies, on the fleeting time we have with our children and the nurturing that is needed in our broken and divided world. They also symbolize to me the grace and self-acceptance I seek in this season of life; the intersection of motherhood and middle age, where anxiety and gratitude coexist. It is in these colorful stitches and strokes, where swirling memories of childhood and motherhood entwine to become a protective force-field of love.
EDUCATION:
2005 BA, summa cum laude, Studio Art & Art History, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL
2022 Wearing All the Hats, professional practice course for artists
2021 Artist/Mother Network crit group (mentor: Lauren Scott Corwin)
2020 Artist/Mother Network crit group (mentor: Barbara Campbell Thomas)
1993-95 University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
1992 Sorbonne Université, Paris, France (French language courses)
1991-92 McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, IL
TEACHING:
2016-18 Part-time Faculty, Stone Bridge School, Napa, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2024. Featured Artist Of The Month, WAYWARD boutique, Fort Collins, CO
2023 Featured Artist Of The Month, Locust Taproom, Fort Collins, CO
2022 Fifty Turns Around the Sun, Art Lab, Fort Collins, CO
2021 Modern Landscapes, Clearview Library, Windsor, CO
2020 Colors of California, Fumé Bistro, Napa, CA
2019 Abstract Cuts, Bloom Salon and Gallery, Napa, CA
2017 Print Show, Molinari Caffe, Napa, CA
2005 Magnified Nexus, Senior Thesis Show, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023 COLOR 2023, 3 Square Art, Fort Collins, CO
2023 Rocky Mountain Triennial, Fort Collins Museum of Art, Fort Collins, CO (Juror: Merry Scully )
2022 Capsule, sketchbooks by women, Basalt Regional Library, CO (curated by Shawna Miller, artist)
2022 Audacity, The Roaring Artist Gallery, (Juror: Marrin Lee Martinez, artist) online exhibition
2022 Painting at Night, Collar Works, Troy, NY (Juror: Judith Braun, artist),
2022 Still, Stay Home Gallery, Paris, TN (curated by Kaylan Buteyn and Pam Taylor)
2021 Painting at Night, Artlink Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN (Juror: Melanie Cooper Pennington, Indiana University)
Personifying Pleasure, Stay Home Gallery, (curated by Katelyn Keane), online exhibition
2019 Napa MAKES, The Oxbow School, Napa, CA
Meet The Makers, GUILD Studio, Napa, CA
2018 Napa MAKES, The Oxbow School, Napa, CA
2006 Chicago Artists, Cornelia Arts Building, Chicago, IL
Bricolages, Gallery Mornea, Evanston, IL (curated by David Gista)
2005 Artists Invite Artists, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
In The Cut, Union Square Lofts, Chicago, IL (curated by Doug Frohman)
2004 Student Group Show, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago IL, (juror: Diane Simpson, artist, Chicago, IL)
1992 Student Group Drawing Show, McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, IL (1st place Purchase Award)
COMMISSIONS:
2022-23 Seven Stones Winery, custom wine label, watercolor on paper, BC, Canada
2021 Onward Wines, custom wine label, acrylic on canvas, Napa, CA
COLLECTIONS:
Windsor, CO
Mercurey, France
Woodstock, IL
Galena, IL
Chicago, IL
Stowe, VT
Fort Wayne, IN
Napa, CA
McHenry County College, Crystal Lake, IL
Dara Weyna is an artist and mother of two, maintaining a studio in northern CO. She works in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking, crochet and collage. Born in Chicago, Dara received her BA in Studio Art with minors in Art History and French in 2005 from Northeastern Illinois University. Post-graduation, Dara worked for prominent collectors, galleries and museums in Chicago as a framer, as well as managing exhibitions for emerging and mid-career artists in Evanston, IL. She developed a thriving studio practice in the historic Cornelia Arts Building before moving to Napa, CA in 2007. There she spent the next 13 years juggling the demands of motherhood while participating in local art markets, teaching classes, running an Etsy shop as well as many collaborations before relocating to CO in 2020.