NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - Dyan Rosenberg stands in the sun-soaked foyer of her self-designed home, surrounded by her own handmade artifacts— sculptures, jewelry, and woodwork. The house itself, a testament to her decades-long career in design and construction, is filled with furniture she crafted. But today, it is the walls that tell her story. Her new exhibit, A Painted Memoir, showcases over 60 paintings, spanning more than six decades of artistic expression.
“I don’t paint for public consumption. I paint for me,” Rosenberg said.
The exhibit, curated by Monique Ford, is Rosenberg’s first solo exhibit in over ten years and offers a rare glimpse into Rosenberg’s private world. The artist typically prefers to keep her paintings close—hanging over her fireplace and adorning her studio—and in the past, has been resistant to public display. She describes the show as “intimate.” At times, uncomfortably so. “It’s like airing myself out there,” she admits. “It’s very personal. These paintings are my companions.”
An Intuitive Creator
Rosenberg’s journey as an artist began almost as soon as she could hold a pencil. As a child, she drew figures from comic books and embraced painting by age 12. She recalls that her first art set was a paint-by-number kit. She quickly abandoned the instructions. “I couldn’t stay in the lines,” she said. “That’s really what started me.”
Her influences span the greats—Picasso, Matisse, and Howard Hodgkins. But Rosenberg has taught herself how to paint (and sculpt, embroider, design and build). This unrestrained style became her strength. “I never had to unlearn techniques the way most academically trained artists do.”
The exhibit reveals her stylistic range: vibrant abstracts with bold, sweeping strokes sit beside quiet landscapes and still-life paintings. “I paint in series,” she explains. “I’ll do 10 or 15 pieces in one style until I’m finished with it. Then I move on.”
Portrait of a Businesswoman
Through the years, Rosenberg translated her innate creative spirit into several successful businesses. In the late 1960s, she founded a successful needlepoint business, designing and selling custom canvases. This entrepreneurial flair evolved into a design and construction career, where she built and furnished homes with her own hands.
“I could always draw what I saw in my head,” she says. Whether sketching a new furniture piece or designing an entire home, her vision translated seamlessly onto the page. “I’d hand my drawings to carpenters, and they’d say, ‘I can’t do that.’ But I could. I’d show them how.”
Her daughter, Julie, is also an artist. She recalls watching her mother transform sketches into reality. “She knows how to build. She understands the joints, the wood, the process,” Julie says. “It’s all instinct.”
The exhibit, however, focuses solely on her paintings— her most personal works.
A Painted Memoir: Art as a Diary
Though the exhibit’s title suggests documentation, A Painted Memoir is not a strictly chronological retelling. The paintings, some dating back to the early 1960s, are Rosenberg’s visual diary. She often doesn’t recognize the meaning of a piece until it’s finished. “I never go in with a plan,” she explains. “I just start in the center of the canvas and let it come out.”
Still, each work is coded with personal significance. “It’s an expression of something going on within me. I may not recognize it at first, but afterward, I’ll look at it and know exactly what it is.”
For Rosenberg, the paintings are also emotional timestamps. “When I hold a piece from years ago, it’s like holding a diary entry,” she says. “I remember the time, the feeling, the part of me I put into it.”
From Studio to Home
For a short time, Rosenberg rented studio space in Port Chester, but eventually realized she prefers to work out of her home. “I like to go from bed to the studio,” she says. Even during the height of her business ventures and raising three children, she kept a canvas on the easel, always ready.
Those children, now adults, still live nearby and share fond memories of watching their mother create. “We had ‘graffiti walls’ we were allowed to paint on, and we could always paint on the backs of our bedroom doors,” Julie says. “The house was our canvas.”
Despite her design prowess, Rosenberg never considered herself a commercial painter. “I didn’t paint for money. I made my living from real estate and other investments.”
An Exhibit of a Lifetime
Although the exhibit marks a significant public reveal of many previously private paintings, Rosenberg remains reserved. “I’m not even happy about it,” she says, half-joking. “This is personal.”
Visitors to A Painted Memoir will see more than just vibrant colors, arresting patterns, and intriguing collages. They will witness the unfiltered, deeply personal expressions of a woman who has spent a lifetime creating. As Julie summed it up: “To everyone else, it’s an exhibit. To my mom, it’s her life on the walls.”
A Painted Memoir will be on display at the Bethany Arts Community Center in Ossining from March 31 to April 18.
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