Dorine Lerner

"I approach the canvas or board with my fingers, building and organizing, much in the way a dress designer touches and handles fabrics, creating a dimensional quality in a tactile and innovative way. I take pieces of the sights, sounds, and thoughts of the world around me, then magnify small parts of it, so that the complexities are amplified, but the overall picture is simplified."
-Dorine Lerner

Dorine Lerner was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania in 1941. She first began her artistic career as a fashion designer, studying and working in the New York City area in the early 1960s. She studied at institutions such as Mayer School of Fashion Design, New York University, The New School, and Phoenix School of Design, all located in New York. Besides her fashion design, Lerner has also been a successful visual artist, creating "monochromatic, highly-textured, abstract works inspired by the stresses of the surrounding world." She describes her mediums and painting methods as being a direct result of her years as a clothing designer. Lerner studied art in the Philadelphia area, specifically at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Timothy Hawkesworth Workshops in the early 2000s.

For Lerner's fine art creations, she works primarily with water based paints, plaster, paper, sand, asphaltum, and fabric. Like how she used to handle the fabric needed to create her clothing designs, Lerner finds herself working primarily with her hands and fingers when creating artwork. She likes to create pieces that have a "dimensional quality" and are somewhat tactile, finding inspiration from what she sees in the world around her. Lerner also describes her tonal palette as something that reflects a desire to "calm the senses."

Lerner's fashion designs were featured at Henri Bendel in New York City during the 1970s. Her artwork has been exhibited at a variety of solo and group exhibitions. She has participated in group shows at locations such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Artsbridge exhibitions, and the Harrisburg State Museum. Lerner has exhibited at solo shows at locations in New York and New Jersey, frequently showing at the Bell's Tavern Gallery in Lambertville.

Education & Training
Mayer School of Fashion Design, New York, New York, 1959-1961
New York University, New York, New York, 1962-1963
The New School, New York, New York, 1964-1965
Phoenix School of Design, New York, New York, 1965-1966
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2000-2002
Timothy Hawkesworth Workshops, Norristown, Pennsylvania, 2001

Teachers & Influences
Teachers: Timothy Hawkesworth
Influences: Mark Rothko, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Ryman, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly

Connection to Bucks County
Dorine Lerner is a long time Bucks County resident and is an active artist in the local area.

Affiliations & Memberships
New Hope Arts
Root's, an art critique group that includes artists from the Bucks County and Princeton areas
Artsbridge

Major Solo Exhibitions
South Orange Federal Savings Bank, South Orange, New Jersey, 1972
Midatlantic National Bank, Milburn, New Jersey, 1973
Artsbridge, Lambertville, New Jersey, 2002
Artsbridge, Lambertville, New Jersey, 2004
Texture in Synthesis, Congregation Emau-El of Westchester, Rye, New York, 2015

Major Group Exhibitions
Brandeis Artist in Residence, Short Hills, New Jersey, 1974
Fellowship, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Annual Exhibition, Historic Yellow, Springs, Pennsylvania, 2001
Artsbridge, Stockton, New Jersey, 2001
Ellarslie Open XX, Museum of the City of Trenton, Trenton, New Jersey, 2002
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Gallery 1301, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2002
Harrisburg State Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 2015

Collections
Access Integrated Technology, Morristown, New Jersey
Sills, Cummis & Gross PC, Newark, New Jersey
Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corporation, New York, New York
Digiplex Destinations Corporation, Westfield, New Jersey

Major Awards
First Prize, Works on Paper, n.d.