ELAINE DALCHER BIO
Elaine Dalcher has earned a reputation over the last 25 years for creating bold and colorful oil paintings. Dalcher’s subjects offer the viewer vivid images from a close-up perspective. Whether it is a still life depicting a space in her home or studio, or a landscape with a tree standing as a figure against the sky, she renders subjects in a way that is at once honest, fresh, intimate and familiar.
Dalcher received her MFA from Western Michigan University in 1988 and is represented in public, corporate and private collections throughout the United States and abroad. She has shown her work in many galleries and juried competitions around the country, including Synchronicity Gallery in Glen Arbor, The Nines Gallery in Holland, Michigan, Artemesia Gallery in Chicago, the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Muskegon Museum of Art, Western Michigan University, Aquinas College, The Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, and the Buckham Gallery in Flint, Michigan.
Dalcher sells her smaller work online at Elaine Dalcher on Etsy.
ON DALCHER’S WORK:
QUOTES FROM PUBLICATIONS
“Like the sweep and forces of nature, [Dalcher’s] painting comes alive with energy and vitality.” - Sara Albert Grand Rapids Press
“[Dalcher] has a simplified, vigorous approach. Her painting is a personal, emotional and spiritual expression that reflects an acute awareness of life….” - Sylvia Krissoff, GR Press
“One of my favorite art encounters was at the work space of Elaine Dalcher. Paintings are either color on canvas or emotion on canvas, and Dalcher combines both with a simple, unpretentious style. Her paintings reveal a depth of feeling beneath the object depicted, an unseen plane where viscerally felt emotion coexists with the subjects of her work. Even the paint-splattered floor around her work area has an interesting vibe.” - Bruce Madden, On-The-Town Magazine
R E S U M E
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting
Western Michigan University, 1988
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Bachelor of Arts Degree / K-12 Teacher Certification
Thomas Jefferson College, 1974
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, Michigan
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Tanglefoot Studio / Elaine Dalcher Studio
Affiliated Artists Annual Show
Grand Rapids, Michigan
1990 - 2009
ArtPrize 2009
Exhibitor and Tanglefoot Venue Manager
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Byrne/Boehm Art Gallery
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Two Person Show 2006
Crooked Tree Art Center
Petoskey, Michigan
Two Person Show 2006
The Nines Gallery
Holland, Michigan
Two Person Shows 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003
Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Featured Artist, 2000
Fountain Street Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan
One Person Show 2000
Grand Rapids Art Museum
Grand Rapids, Michigan 1992, 1995, 1997
Betty Clark Cannon Gallery
Muskegon, Michigan 1994
Krasl Art Center
St. Joseph, Michigan 1991
Artemesia Gallery
Chicago, Illinois 1990
Buckham Fine Arts Gallery
Flint, Michigan 1989
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan 1987, 1988
Grand Rapids Gallery of Women’s Art
Grand Rapids, Michgan 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Tanglefoot Artists, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Synchronicity Gallery, Glen Arbor, Michigan
The Nines Gallery, Holland, Michigan
Elaine Dalcher at Etsy online gallery shop
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Grand Rapids Public Schools, Grand Rapids, Michigan
1976 – Present
Experience teaching all ages 4 – 80 years of age
Specialty: Working with disabled students of all levels and abilities
Elaine Dalcher Studio at Tanglefoot Thursday Evening Painting Class
Elaine Dalcher Studio 2006 - Present
Open to adults with beginning to intermediate experience