Abstract Landscape
A blurb on the Abstract Landscape. Materials used, thematic inspiration. Which years did this cover? Any shows where this work was shown, or any collaborations.
Darla Bjork is an artist who early on channeled her creative energy into her career as a psychiatrist in NYC. After some early explorations in stone sculpture, she turned her attention to painting in 1977. She’s been making paintings ever since.
Darla’s work has evolved over the years. Her first works were abstract faces and human forms painted in primarily dark tones and shades. Later she switched to encaustics bringing in other shapes and colors. More recently her paintings are done with oil stick on wood panels of varying sizes, often layering and scraping to achieve qualities of richness and vitality. This layered technique invites the observer to explore the depths of shifting perspectives.
Photo Credit: Marina Tychinina, 2018
While her lines and forms often appear simple, there are always formative structures and elements beneath. The layering and depth may be a reflection of insights culled from Darla’s years working in psychiatry. She is an artist whose paintings often exemplify the hidden layers of living a human life.
Darla has had solo exhibits in the United States and Europe. She is a board member and gallery artist of the SOHO20 Gallery. Her work has been reviewed in The Woodstock Times, Kouvolan Sanomat (Finland), Women Artists’ News, and The Village Voice.
She co-authored an essay published in Entering the Picture: Judy Chicago, The Fresno Feminist Art Program, and the Collective Visions of Women Artists, edited by Jill Fields, Routledge, 09/14/2011.
Darla Bjork, Self Portrait in Blue, 1997
Solo Exhibitions
2024 Curtain Calls, Carter Burden Gallery, NYC
2023 Nowhere/ Now Here, Carter Burden Gallery, NYC
2021 Outer Space, Gallery Z, NYC
2020 CHOIRS, Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery, Hunter NY
2019 Weaving Tight and Loose, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2017 Sanctuary, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Birches, Hale Salon, NYC
2015 Torii/Gate, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC | Double Gate Performance Response by Maria Hupfield and Autumn Kioti
2013 Windows: On the Other Side, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC | catalog
2011 Fire Series, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC
2009 Water Series, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC
2004 Dawn Paintings: Internal Landscape, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC | catalog
2002 India: Reflections, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC
2000 Self Portraits, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC
1998 Grief Spirit, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC
1996 Omettagalleria, Sippola, Finland
1989 A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
1985 Ceres Gallery, NYC
Group Exhibitions
2025 Free Range, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2022 Summer Selection, Carter Burden Gallery, NYC
2021 HERE NOW, members' exhibit, SOHO20 Gallery, NYC
Looking Forward, juried by Nancy Azara, Carter Burden Gallery, NYC
2020 Signs of the Times, juried by Joanne Mattera, Ceres Gallery NYC
Dimensions Variable, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2019 Vocabulary, SOHO20 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2018 What is A Painting?, Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery, Hunter NY | catalog
Pages from the Frozen Sea, co-curated by Eva Mantell & Sarah Stengle, Minneapolis, MN | pdf
2017 Conversations from the Garden, ArtBar Gallery, Kingston, NY (4 person)
BeauxArtsGala, WAAM, Woodstock, NY
2015 Small Works / Baruch, Sidney Mishkin Gallery, NYC
2014 Playing with a Full Deck, Greene County Council on the Arts, GCCA Catskill Gallery, Catskill, NY | pdf
5 x 7 Show, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2013 Byrdcliffe Artists' Studio Tour, Woodstock, NY
Women in Charge!, SOHO20, Chelsea Gallery, NYC
Together Again, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
Sideshow Nation, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Water, Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery, SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge, NY,
Juried by Portia Munson
2011 I Can Dream Can't I?, ACA Gallery, NYC
NYFAI Visual Diaries, traveling show, Auburn University, Montgomery, AL
2010 Fracking, Exit Art, NYC
NYFAI Visual Diaries, traveling show, Fairleigh Dickson University, Teaneck, NJ
NYFAI Visual Diaries, traveling show, Suffolk Community College, LI NY
2009 Encaustic Wax, An Ancient Medium Rediscovered, Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ
Bridging Generations: Women Artists and Organizations, Rutgers University Library, Rutgers NJ
Banks of the Hudson, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock, NY
The River, WAAM, Woodstock, NY
Bridge New York, The Waterfront, NYC
2008 A Toast to Toast, Synagogue for the Arts, NYC
2007 Small Rays of Hope, Rhonda Schaller Chelsea Gallery, NYC
Woodstock School of Art Regional Exhibition, Woodstock, NY
Six Chix, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC
2006 Couples - Do Opposites Attract?, BRIK Gallery, Catskill, NY
ASK Artists' Studio Tour 2006, Kingston, NY
7+14, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
Artists' Self Portraits, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, NYC
2005 Portrait, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
The Square Show, Ceres Gallery, NYC
Art Benefit for Blue Ocean Institute, Solomon Projects, Atlanta, GA
2004 Generations 04, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
2002 Artists Choose Artists, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
2000 Imaging the Wunderboard, Center for Freudian Analysis and Research, London Biennale 2000
Generations, A Survey of Woman Artists at the Millennium, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
1999 FranklinFest, TriBecCa Art Walk, NYC
1998 amazons & avatars, OIA @ New York Law School, NYC
Troubling Customs, Ontario College of Art & Design Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Transmission, de Zaaijer Gallery, Amsterdam
1997 Ordinary/Extraordinary: The Artists Use of Home, Wood Street Gallery, Chicago
1996 Un-Portrait, Galleria Mesa, Mesa, AZ
1995 Girl Dreams, Woman Visions, CB’s 313 Gallery, NYC
Nancy Azara & Darla Bjork, Wall Gallery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NYC
Re/Defining Lesbians: Power/Transition, WCA, Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, San Antonio, TX
1994 Healing through Art/The Art of Healing, Times Square Gallery, NYC
OPEN/SHUT, Exploring Women’s Lives, The Crystal Quilt, Inc, NYC
1993 OIA Salon, The Prince Building, NYC
The Face Not Only A Parent Could Love, Triplex Gallery, NYC
Women’s Art-Women’s Lives-Women’s Issues, Tweed Gallery, NYC
1991 Scarlet Letters, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
Visible For A Change, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA
Wiminfest Art, Jonson Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
The NYC Anti-War Group Exhibition, Brecht Forum, NYC
1990 The Human Image, North Hennepin Community College, Minneapolis, MN
1989 The Art of Ceres, the Krasdale Exhibition, Bronx
1986 In Homage to Ana Mendieta, Zeus-Trabia Gallery, NYC
1985 Small Works, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, NYC
Reviews, Essays & Publications
2019 Darla Bjork "Weavings Tight and Loose", New York Art Beat (5/24/2019)
2017 Darla Bjork "Sanctuary", New York Art Beat (9/8/2017)
2015 Darla Bjork in Conversation with Mary Danisi, Soho20 Studio/Visits (11/19/2015)
Still Points VII, Still Point Arts Quarterly, Summer 2015 Issue No. 18
2013 Bjork's Windows to the City, Paul Smart, Woodstock Times
2009 Full of Talent, Joe Bendik, Chelsea Clinton News
Bjork's ruminations, Paul Smart, Woodstock Times
Water, Water everywhere, Joanne Mattera Art Blog
WAAM looks at The River, Paul Smart, Woodstock Times
2002 Art Review, Woodstock Times
1996 Taiteen tekeminen psykiatriaa, Kouvolan Sanomat, Helsinki, Finland
1989 Darla Bjork, Elise LaRose, Women Artist's News
Gifted, Arlene Raven, The Village Voice
Education
1979-1984 NYFAI/Women's Center for Learning, NYC
1977 Brooklyn Museum School, Brooklyn
1965-1969 Psychiatry Residency, Kings County Hospital/Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn
1961-1965 University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN
1959-1961 St Olaf College, Northfield, MN