Art Department faculty, Dara Engler, Solo Exhibition at the Dove Block Project, Opening Reception April 2nd, 3-5pm

By Doreen Brown, March 30, 2022

A Pirate’s Guide to Homesteading: Dara Engler April 2–29, 2022

The community is invited to an exhibit of the works of regional artist Dara Engler, April 2–29 at The Dove Block Project, 465 Exchange St., Geneva, NY. An artist’s reception will be held Saturday, April 2, 3:00–5:00 pm. The exhibit is free and all are welcome to attend.

Dara Engler is an Associate Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Art at Ithaca College where she teaches painting and drawing. Engler received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of New Hampshire and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. She was awarded a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, followed by a recipient group show at the Cue Art Foundation in New York, NY.

Engler has been included in New American Paintings and Manifest’s International Drawing Annual and has received fellowships to attend the Vermont Studio Center, Millay Colony and Saltonstall Foundation residencies. Her work has been shown nationally in galleries and museums, and her work is included in many collections throughout the United States.

Visitors to the exhibit will engage with Dara’s keen ability to share her imagined world of “human foible and the humor that comes with it” through paintings and sculptural three-dimensional objects inspired by her experiences and the natural world. Through her curiosity and art-making, Engler welcomes viewers into a fantastical environment she describes as “like a life-size diorama.” 

Exhibition Link

Dara Engler, Artist: “My work represents an alter ego…My pirate-y anti-hero is full of curiosity and combative reverence for her natural environment. She traps animals and builds shelters. Despite her adventurous nature, the pirate is subject to an awkward and fumbling learning curve. She approaches tasks in the least efficient way possible, in this case substituting knit blankets for sound structures. As with natural history museums, the artifacts further blur the line between fact and fiction.”

Dara Engler, Artist: 

“My work represents an alter ego…My pirate-y anti-hero is full of curiosity and combative reverence for her natural environment. She traps animals and builds shelters. Despite her adventurous nature, the pirate is subject to an awkward and fumbling learning curve. She approaches tasks in the least efficient way possible, in this case substituting knit blankets for sound structures. As with natural history museums, the artifacts further blur the line between fact and fiction.”