Yael Kupiec-Dar

I work in an additive and subtractive process where imagery grows into vertical gardens with intertwined organic elements. There is a focus on painterly expression and craft, yet threaded through my canvases are themes of human interaction with the natural world; what we discard and collect; and loss of innocence. My story-telling is enigmatic, in spite of providing so much visual detail.

My teaching stems from both the work of current artists and art history and encompasses highly technical, formal, expressive and experimental concepts and culturally responsive practices. I believe art is an avenue to explore the world and issues such as ecology/ climate, social issues, body image, biography, psychology, and more and that technical and formal instruction in media can happen simultaneously while exploring subject matter and conceptual ideas.

I completed a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore fully funded by the Coca-Cola National Fellows Program (2001), a Masters of Science in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston (1994) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Brandeis University (1990). I have taught adult continuing education courses, was a full-time high school art teacher for over a decade and taught part-time for several years at the middle school level, and adjunct at the university level, and in the museum setting while raising my three daughters. Most recently I taught Advanced Projects in Visual Arts, Studio Art Portfolio, and Explorations in Visual Arts and Sciences (EVAS) a STEAM class looking at biomimicry, data visualization and so many intersections between art and science, co-taught with two AP Biology teachers at a high-achieving high school. Exhibitions include juried exhibitions at Concord Art in Concord, MA, 6 Bridges Gallery in Maynard, MA, Kathryn Schultz Gallery in Cambridge, MA and Beacon Gallery in the Boston SOWA district, a two-artist exhibition titled "Mystery and Memory" at the Perkins Gallery at the former Striar Jewish Community Center in Stoughton, MA, and a solo show at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center titled “Water, Amber, and Light." I will be included in the next edition of Studio Visit Magazine, curated by Sarah Montross, Senior Curator, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.