Artist Dara Mark’s series “In the Garden of Healing” features her water color paintings created in a period of grief and growth.

Elegy #24 is one of the paintings Dara Mark completed while processing feelings of grief.

“In the Garden of Healing” by Dara Mark will be featured at the Turchin Center for Visual Arts until May 7.

Interested community members are encouraged to attend a virtual artist talk with Dara Mark on March 16 to learn more about the pieces in the exhibition.

Lily/Heart/Memory #2 by Dara Marks is one of the several pieces she created to represent a period of healing. 

Artist Dara Mark’s series “In the Garden of Healing” features her water color paintings created in a period of grief and growth.

Elegy #24 is one of the paintings Dara Mark completed while processing feelings of grief.

“In the Garden of Healing” by Dara Mark will be featured at the Turchin Center for Visual Arts until May 7.

Interested community members are encouraged to attend a virtual artist talk with Dara Mark on March 16 to learn more about the pieces in the exhibition.

Lily/Heart/Memory #2 by Dara Marks is one of the several pieces she created to represent a period of healing. 

BOONE – The Turchin Center for Visual Arts is featuring artist Dara Mark’s exhibition “In the Garden of Healing” until May 7 and an upcoming virtual artist talk on March 16.

The watercolor paintings on Yupo paper of the series were made during the five-year period following the death of Mark’s husband. Mark shares that each painting reflects her “emotional state during the process of grieving and healing” and her personal growth.

Mark began using black, white and blue exclusively for the first year of creating this collection, but following her breast cancer diagnosis, she felt more drawn to red, pink, orange, and yellows.

Mark hopes that viewers will sense her growing freedom and vitality through the development of the series.

“I went back out to my studio and looked at the colors, which is how I would normally start a series. But in the grief state, I couldn’t stand looking at color, so I just picked up black, and started working with black. I decided I wanted to spend the next year painting a memorial, elegies to my husband Wayne,” said Mark. “At the end of that year, I just felt like it was time to move on.”

Mark shares that the creation of this collection was healing for her. She believes that creativity can and should be used as a tool to work through and process emotions.

“I think one thing that I really got to understand from doing this work is that the creative process itself is healing … I think that being in the flow of creativity connects you with the creative flow of the universe,” said Mark. “And it’s really valuable to be able to do that even on a small scale. So that’s something anybody could do or could feel, is that connection to life force that happens when you’re creative.”

Mark uses the transparency of the Yupo paper to layer compositions. She works with the paper flat and brushes on a layer of water-color paint, allowing it to dry and form itself into “puddles and streams.” She then layers the paper together to complete a piece.

“It’s like a listening process, really,” said Mark. “What does this sheet want to be paired with, and how does it want to look on the wall, what does it need to make a complete composition?”

Mark grew up visiting art museums in New York City and began exploring different mediums at a young age.

Mark shares she was one of the first women to graduate from Yale College in 1971 with a Bachelor’s degree in architecture studies and a Master’s degree in ceramics from the University of California at Santa Barbara following years of studying various art forms through classes and experimentation. She then received artist grants from the California and Missouri state arts councils and served as a master artist for talented youth in Santa Barbara County, Calif.

Following heavy-metal poisoning from what she believes is years of exposure from living in agricultural areas and exposure to art materials, Mark turned to water color paint due to its organic nature.

Mark currently resides in Lamy, N. M., and works in watercolor on synthetic paper.

Mark hopes that those who view the exhibition will reflect on the emotional response.

“What I hope is that people get a response in their body. A feeling, whether an emotional feeling or a physical feeling,” said Mark. “Each painting is subtly different in the kind of feeling that you would get from standing in front of it and letting it affect you.”

TCVA’s upcoming virtual ARTtalk will feature Mark on March 16 at 6 p.m. Mark will be discussing several paintings and her process in creating them. Those interested can register online at tcva.org.

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