D.A. Terzian’s oil on canvas paintings are based on her interest in the human/animal bond that requires one to be fully present in the moment, not distracted by news or technology which seem to drain us every day. It comes from her heartbreak for stray dogs that she sees when she travels. And from her experience fostering for a local animal shelter and building trust with varied feline personalities. Her goal is to produce paintings that connect you to an animal, even if not your pet, and to consider their domesticated experience.
Approached as a painting first, Terzian strives to separate her work from straight forward animal portraiture, taking cues from the animal’s expression or pose to work out composition, details and patterns, culminating in a dreamlike moment on canvas. Placing dogs and cats in imagined interior settings, Terzian considers the animal’s perspective and the contrast between the interior environments imposed on them and the natural world outside that invigorates their animal spirit often incorporating a story or symbolism into the painting.
Terzian received a BA in Studio Art from Smith College and a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Having apprenticed in her twenties with her father, also a painter, she left corporate interior architecture mid-career to return to painting. Her artwork practice includes both non-commissioned and commissioned works.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Every Woman Biennial: I Will Always Love You, La Mama Galleria, New York, NY. March 2 - 24, 2024
2023
Tickled Pink: A Virtual Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL. Curator: Veronica Clements. July 1 - 30, 2023
2022
Off the Wall, LiC-A, Long Island City, NY. November 5, 2022 - January 29, 2023.
Wreath Interpretations, The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, New York, NY. December 1 - 30, 2022.
2021
Cat Daddy, AHA Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY. Co-juror: Jody MacDonald. December 17, 2021 - January 16, 2022.
104th Annual Juried Exhibition, Greenwich Art Society/Bendheim Gallery, Greenwich, CT. Juror: Allison Rudnick. July 6 - September 9, 2021.
2020
HOME, A Virtual Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL. Juror: Jennifer Weigel. July 3 - 31, 2020
Altered States Juried Exhibition, Pleiades Gallery, New York, NY. Jurors: Denise Adler, Al Benkin, Joseph O’Neill. January 23 - February 15, 2020.
2019
Wreath Interpretations, The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, New York, NY. December 5, 2019 - January 2, 2020.
Petopia!, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ. November 24, 2019 - January 5, 2020.
Holiday Salon Show, Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. December 20, 2019
People’s Choice Salon Show, Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. September 27, 2019
Priority Mail: Our 2019 Mail Art Biennial, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. July 26, 2019 - September 29, 2019.
Small Works Show, Gallery 178 / Cornerstone Studios, New York, NY. Curated by Anna Shukeylo. June 8 - July 13, 2019.
2018
Who Saved Who, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA. Nov. 30, 2018 - March 3, 2019.
National Juried Exhibition, First Street Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: Ronnie Landfield. June 21 - July 14, 2018.
Summer Juried Exhibition, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY. Juror: John Yau. July 10 - 28, 2018.
Bibliography
2019
Photograph by D.A.Terzian, Wavy Tree, October issue, The Tishman Review, 2019.
2018
“New exhibit at New Bedford Art Museum is dog-gone purrfect”, Herald News, Dec 18, 2018.
“Who Saved Who’ exhibit at New Bedford Art Museum celebrates relationship with pets”, South Coast Today, Dec 9, 2018.
“NBAM hits the paws button with new exhibit”, Don Wilkinson, South Coast Today, Dec. 13, 2018.