Exploring Rich Realms: Dunya McPherson Speaks on Painting & Dance

I’ve always painted. My journey began with my grandmother, an excellent painter who guided me in my youth. Throughout my performing and teaching career in dance, I sketched, painted, (and wrote) whenever time and energy allowed. Then one day a few years ago I was bitten by a desire to surround myself with better art than I could afford. A part of me jumped up and said, “Let’s learn that!”—and I did.

Painting has become a priority. Nearly every day, I’m at the easel. I feed my eyes with museums, art shows, and visits to my fellow artists’ studios—all of which enliven my visual understanding. I will keep learning, keep evolving. It’s an infinity.

Oil is my preferred medium—sensuous in both tactility and luminosity. Sometimes, I paint to explore a particular palette, pigment, or technique, letting curiosity guide me. Years as a choreographer honed my sense of composition and rhythm, but painting presents new challenges—color and values, elements absent in dance, and wonderfully thrilling.

What I see is a world that is alive, bubbling, glimmering, singing, and magical. That vision inspires me. I use what I see—whether a live scene or a photograph—as a structural map. As I progress, the composition and forms begin to speak, often pulling me beyond representation. When I bring it onto canvas, I want it to breathe, to move on the wall. Each piece must find itself and stand strong.

– Dunya Dianne McPherson, Juried Artist