As a life long lover of the arts, I studied art and dance in college. I taught art in College Station ISD and earned a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at Texas A&M.I enjoy the problem solving and creativity in creating art. For several years I have focused on painting en plein aire. Spending time in nature, interpreting the outdoors is very rewarding.
My love of the visual arts began late high school with my first self taught drawing course and my friend’s infatuation with photography. After graduating high school, I got my Associate’s degree in Fine Arts and in 2012 I married the love of my life. Shortly after, I started DCA Studio, sold some paintings, took a variety of photography gigs, and worked part-time while my husband worked full time and pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering. During this time my husband and I had three beautiful children and grieved the loss of our firstborn son. God has been faithful to walk us through seasons of both sorrow and joy. Though it has often taken the back burner to the priorities in my life, art has always been a catalyst for healing and self-expression. I’m excited to continue pursing and developing the gifts that God has given me and hope that my art will also bring inspiration and joy to others as well.
Fun facts:
Before I discovered my affinity for fine art, I wanted to be an exotic animal trainer.
I enjoy ballroom dancing.
Music is a big inspiration to much of my art.
I have an extra rib.
I have recently discovered that I enjoy gardening and I don’t kill every plant that I care for.
I am a Texas native, but as an Army Brat, I spend most of my youth growing up near Ft Rucker in Alabama. I attended grade school, high school, and college in Alabama with a short stint in Colorado.. Aside from being a practicing artist I am an art history subject matter expert with a focus in Asian Art, a high school visual arts and film educator, and a college art history professor for TAMIU and Trident Universities. I have been an educator for almost 15 yrs. My artwork is influenced by my love of the macabre, human anatomy, animals, the power of color, and Mexican Folk Art.
Fun Facts:
I am trying to visit a new tropical beach/island outside the US every summer. So far I have been to the British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Mexico, Turks & Caicos, and Puerto Rico. So many, many, more to go! The ultimate goal is to make it to the Maldives and Bora Bora!
I love to collect skulls and bones. Day of the Dead is my favorite holiday along with Halloween.
For most children born in Russia, a country with deep, versatile history and tradition in the arts, art is an important part of their childhood. For Dary Dega, the owner of Aggieland’s newest destination for artists, DEGALLERY, it was no different. Like most Russian children, she was raised attending museums and concert halls, going to the ballet, and classical music concerts. But Dary may have fallen even deeper in love with the arts at an early age, thanks to traveling extensively all over Europe as a child with her father, who was a renowned scientist, and the rest of her family. Throughout her travels, she continuously learned more about the fine arts and their beginnings at every turn. That early passion remained fervent for Dary, who would go on to later graduate from art school and music school, while also pursuing a career in medicine. Dary moved with her husband halfway around the world a couple of years ago because he assumed the position of physics professor at Texas A&M University. Following the move to Texas, Dary’s lifelong love of art inspired her to launch a unique gallery in her new home in Aggieland, a dream of her’s, to build a space that would allow every artist of every age, at every talent level, to express themselves. That dream has finally opened.
Fun facts:
I opened my gallery and studio by starting life from scratch in the USA without speaking English, with no knowledge of American business and the market, and with a 5-month-old baby in my arms and another five-year-old child.
Having a Ph.D. and MD in Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, I returned to graduate school at the age of 45 and completed my new graduate school with Master Art in Art Program in a year and a half.
I am a tapestry weaver and fiber artist. My undergrad was in Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario in 1977. After working as a fiber artist for a few years (as well as other occupations) I came to grad school at TAMU and graduated in 1995. During the intervening years, I have been weaving tapestries and producing fiber art pieces. I belong to the Brazos Spinners & Weavers Guild (BSWG) and INTERSECTIONS Textile Learning Center & Gallery (ITLC). As a member of both BSWG and ITLC, I have promoted the textile and fibers arts in this area for about 20 years.
Fun facts:
Grad school at TAMU– Anthropology – Nautical Archaeology in 1987, and graduated with a PhD in 1995.
I was employed in the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation in the Conservation Research Lab illustrating archaeological artifacts for publications and conserving artifacts.
I retired as chief conservator from the CRL in April 2020.
She was born and raised in the enchanted city of Jerez, in the Mexican State of Zacatecas. During her time there she studied architecture. She then moved to the United States of America and resides in the city of College Station, Texas. This is where she began developing techniques in acrylic, pastel, charcoal, and watercolor. Her artwork expresses her memories of the building and church of the Colonial Architecture of her birthplace.
Artist Statement:
In each painted picture, I express the colonial architecture of the town where I was born, Jerez, Zacatecas. The buildings are full of rich colors and they populate the town with history; they are part of the tourist attractions.
Streets with many simple homes of a town whose facades are loaded with pink quarry stone and are the framework of rustic-style buildings and mansions, which when painted and captured on canvas are manifestations of respect for architects and people who built them. The joy and freshness of colors that represent Mexican-life.
My art journey began in primary school but it wasn’t until the birth of my first born that I took art making seriously. I taught kids how to make art, but wasn’t making my own, and that had to change. As an educator, I have worked in Texas public schools as an art teacher for almost two decades, while also pursuing a career as a watercolor artist. Nature is the place where my soul can rest, and it’s where I find inspiration for my watercolor paintings. Whether it’s a vast landscape, an animalistic narrative, or a bird among foliage I find great joy in bringing creation’s beauty to life through watercolor.
Fun Facts:
I’ve traveled to 9 countries spread over 4 continents,
I lived in Jakarta Indonesia and was the MC for the Indonesia National Yo-yo competition 2019,
Bryan-College Station has been my home since I arrived from Watertown, NY in 1975 to earn my Ph.D. in Oceanography. It was here I graduated, met and married my love. I taught First Year Chemistry at Texas A&M University for 30 years & ran the Chemistry Open House for 13 years. Teaching was my passion; I earned many awards including the prestigious Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence. I still tutor students in first year chemistry. I started watercolor as a complete novice in 2013 just before retiring, taking local classes with Hailey Herrera, Chris Wilson, Robyn Glass and Monica Pate. In 2019, Monica, Robyn and I started “Brazos Watercolor Retreats” in my art studio, but they moved on to other endeavors and now I continue to have monthly classes and give private lessons. I have been on the board of the Visual Art Society of Bryan-College Station for several years: 2016–2023 as treasurer, and president/technology chair for 2023-2025. I also manage our Aggieland Art Trail project.
Fun facts:
My undergraduate and master’s degrees in Chemistry were from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
I was a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteer in 1972-3.
I travelled through the US, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala in a Volkswagen bus in 1975.
During graduate school, I played on the first TAMU women’s rugby team and was an assistant cook in a gourmet restaurant.
I have visited all 7 continents, including Antarctica, with hubbie, Dr. Mahlon Kennicutt II, who was President of SCAR, Scientific Committee of Antartic Research.
You can find all my chemistry notes and help pages HERE, and take a look at this VIDEO explaining how I used the virtual world of Second Life to teach chemistry! That was fun!
Lastly, I am a retired herbalist and sell my herbal skin cream “Dr. Wendy’s Wrinkle Warrior” at Village Foods and online.
Although I was born in Birmingham, and grew up in small towns around northern Alabama, I have lived in Texas since 1997, and was on the faculty of Texas A&M University for nearly 25 years before retiring.
As a photographer, I am largely self-taught. I did take an art photography class in college that taught the basics of black and white film photography (no digital in those days!). Today, my photographic process remains traditional and purposely retro; from capturing images on black and white films in sizes from 35mm and 2 ¼ x 2 ¼, to 4×5 inches (my favorite!), developing the film in a wet darkroom, to printing the images on silver gelatin papers from the enlarged negatives. Each print is hand processed according to the Ilford archival sequence, toned in selenium, and mounted using acid-free materials for longevity.
My photography reflects a wide range of interests, including historic sacred architecture, landscapes and nature, abstracts, and still life. With my photographs, I try to attract viewers’ interest by revealing the “spirit of place,” as well as the interplay of light and shadow. I also try to show through my images that beauty, serenity, and tranquility are to be found all around us. In doing so, my purpose is to highlight overlooked details, pique viewers’ curiosity, and encourage them to see and experience familiar places anew.
Fun facts:
My doctorate in History was directly inspired by my photography of San Antonio’s Spanish missions.
Although largely self-taught, I have recently participated in workshops led by Alan Ross, a former assistant to the renowned artist, Ansel Adams.
Artists who have influenced or inspired my work include: Ansel Adams, Alan Ross, Edward Weston, Minor White, and M. C. Escher.
While working in my darkroom, I am usually listening to music by a wide variety of artists including: the Allman Brothers, Dave Brubeck, Jethro Tull, Kitaro, Rush, Miles Davis, B. B. King, Willie Nelson, Shadowfax, Eric Clapton, J. S. Bach, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and ZZ Top.
Favorite art/photographic-related quote: “One should not only photograph things for what they are, but for what else they are.” – Minor White.
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