DARIA DEGA
Artist Statement
“As an artist with the soul and heart of a medical scientist, I have always loved to create something very complex that could convey the beauty of an artistic object and reveal its inner world and character. I enjoy working on complex, realistic, large-scale portraits with lots of detail and experimenting with a vibrant palette of oil paint for large abstract canvases. My landscapes using the technique of open impressionism and still lifes using the technique of classical photorealism are entirely different, but they are united by one theme: warmth and lightness of character. When inventing my ceramic artwork with clay, I also try to make something unique and complex in shape and glazing. But even in them, you can read my feelings and see the palette of my colors.
When creating my art, as an artist and scientist, I like to share some secrets about the person or place I painted in each artwork as a fairy tale or story. I am trying to capture the character and create an art story so everyone can see the artwork using their imagination and discover the secrets hidden in my artwork.”
Learn more about Daria by visiting her website and following her on social media.
Background & Bio
Dr. Dary Penionzhkevich Dega
Ph.D., MAA, MD
Award-winning artist. Highly experienced manager. Art gallery and art studio Degallery business owner. Founder and director of non-for-profit art organization DEGA International Art Association.
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 popular 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 and graduated as an MD and Ph.D. in Neuroscience.
In 2013 Dary moved with her husband to Central Texas 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.
In 2023 Dary graduated from graduate school at Northwestern State University with a Major in Art with a Solo Graduate Exhibition, “The Story of Women’s Self Portraits Through Centuries and Styles”.
Artworks of Dega are regularly included in national and international art exhibitions and have won competitions.
Her latest awards:
- 2021 1 place winner in Oil Painting Category, International Winter Art Show and Competition, “Winter Road”, 20”x16”, oil on linen, Texas USA
- 2022 1 place winner in Oil/Acrylic Painting Category. ”My First Texas Gifts”, 20”x16”, oil on linen. Spring Art Show of Visual Artists Society of BCS Texas, Texas USA
- 2022 1 place winner in Ceramic Category, “Cold Stone,” ceramic set. Winter International Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 Best of the Show. “Lotuses Valley”, 30”x40”, Oil/Acrylic on canvas. A Golden Gala: the Visual Art Society’s 50th Anniv Celebration Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 1 Place in Oil/Acrylic paint category. Division of Professional Artists. “Lotuses Valley”, 30”x40”, Oil/Acrylic on canvas. A Golden Gala: the Visual Art Society’s 50th Anniv Celebration Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 Division of Professional Artists Winer. “Lotuses Valley”, 30”x40”, Oil/Acrylic on canvas. A Golden Gala: the Visual Art Society’s 50th Anniv Celebration Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 1 Place in Mixed Media Category. “The Beginning”, 40”x60”, Oil/Glass/Resin on Canvas. A Golden Gala: the Visual Art Society’s 50th Anniv Celebration Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 1 place in Studio Craft Category “Spiral Galaxy”, Ceramic Set. A Golden Gala: the Visual Art Society’s 50th Anniv Celebration Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 2 place in Studio Craft Category “Water Lilies”, Ceramic Set. A Golden Gala: the Visual Art Society’s 50th Anniv Celebration Art Show and Competition, Texas USA
- 2023 3 place “The Story of Crayons” in Graduate National Juried Exhibition The University of Mississippi Museum, Oxford, Mississippi USA
“I fell in love with Texas from the first sight. Texas loved me back and truly warmed my heart. Now the USA is a perfect home for my family, my three children. I always wanted to make people happy and I will continue committing to this goal through Degallery.”
– Dary Dega.
