By Devon Jackson
The artist has always found a sense of solace in art. Born in Midland, TX, in 1950, Worman was just 4 years old when she was hit by a car and nearly killed. Suffering from a head injury, she could do little more than lie in bed while recuperating. So her father, knowing how much she liked to draw, built her a desk that fit over her bed. Art became her constant companion.
After the family moved to Durango, CO, where Worman and two brothers and a sister grew up, she again found refuge in art whenever she felt particularly isolated. As a teenager she often withdrew to her bedroom to spend long hours drawing. “Art became a nice partner for a child like that,” says Worman, looking back at herself. “It’s nice to have a skill to retreat into that’s not self-destructive.”
Eventually, Worman’s retreat turned into a pursuit. She churned out hundreds of drawings and paintings (many of which her mother still has) and used whatever money she earned working odd jobs to pay for classes with artists who visited Durango. She later majored in art at Colorado State University. After marrying, she and her husband, Dave, a commercial airline pilot, moved to Italy for three years, where Worman drew, painted, and visited museums. “A lot of the paintings I saw were older, not styles that I would want to paint in. But the compositions were wonderful. That’s where a good part of my identification with composition started,” Worman says of her years abroad.
Featured in March 2007
Find the rest of this exciting article and more bysubscribing to Southwest Art magazine.SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND GET A FREE TRIAL ISSUE!
80
The post Dinah Worman | Room to Breathe appeared first on Southwest Art Magazine.