Dunya McPherson, VIsual Artist

Dunya McPherson, VIsual Artist

McPherson’s vivid palette and rich impasto create a world of movement and depth, drawing viewers into an intricate weave of energy and immersion. Her brushstrokes and compositions glide fluidly between Impressionism and Abstraction. She paints in her Cape Cod home in Woods Hole and her New Mexico wilderness studio.

Dunya McPherson, Visual Artist

Artist Statement

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

“These paintings change my breathing. The brushwork awakens sensory connection. ‘Enchanted’ is a luminous dream. ’Wild Irises’ is gorgeous! Texture, depth, viscosity, dimension.”
— Christopher Pilafian, fine artist

GALLERY

THE FOREST TEMPLE PAINTINGS
by Dunya McPherson 2025 Exhibition

April 6th – May 9th
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Cape Cod, MA

'Forest Temple Paintings Triptych'

DUNYA DIANNE McPHERSON: LANDSCAPES
Selected works 2022 – 2023