Luminous color

Christine Dozier [Supplied]

“Celestial Orbs”
Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas – 36” x 36”
Currently on exhibit in “Colorful Pleasures” at the Ocala International Airport

Artists deal with a larger environment that begins in the visible world but expands through their imagination into an invisible world of endless possibilities, Christine Dozier conveys in her artist statement.

The Ocala-based painter used watercolors before moving on to oils and acrylics, but she doesn’t limit herself to one approach. Dozier’s paintbrush wanders wherever her muse takes her in real time.

“When I start a painting, I never know what I’m gonna do,” Dozier explained. “I know the colors, the paint I want to use, and so I’ll lay them out on the palette and I just start kind of designing as I go along. It’s so much fun. I’m not really planning, and often if I plan something, I don’t like it and will change it anyway.”

Spontaneous compositions and luminous color pervade Dozier’s solo exhibition, “Colorful Pleasures,” which can be seen through Jan. 17 at the Ocala International Airport, 1770 SW 60th Ave., Suite 600.

Ever versatile, Dozier paints landscapes, abstracts, still life, animals, and pet portraits. Many of her paintings now belong to private collections and hang in corporate offices throughout the United States.

When asked how she makes her colorful shapes and swirls shine, the veteran artist offers a surprisingly straightforward response: “It’s just a matter of mixing color paint with white. Used alone, white does not really glow. But when you put a little yellow with that or another color and mix it in there with that white, then that’s how you get a brilliance to the painting.”

She and her husband, Bernard Dozier, a writer and retired minister in the Unity Church, relocated to Ocala four years ago from Memphis, Tennessee. While they don’t have children together, they are loving parents to two bichon frise dogs, Jack and Cooper.

“Angel”
Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas – 48” x 36”

Retired from nursing, Dozier plans to keep painting and submitting her work to exhibitions. She expressed a desire to volunteer as an art teacher and get involved in the local arts community.

“In Memphis, I was in an artist co-op of 19 other artists. We had a very large space and plenty of wall space to hang large paintings,” Dozier said. “I’m really missing that, and I would like to get another artist co-op going.”

Her curriculum vitae includes the Memphis College of Art and she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Memphis. As a nurse, Dozier provided care in behavioral health for more than 20 years.

“While I did start out majoring in art education, I decided to switch to nursing,” she shared. “Both of my sisters were RNs, and I just saw that as an opportunity to have a flexible job and still be able to pursue art, which turned out that way because I was a weekend nurse for over 20 years. That gave me the time and flexibility to pursue art, and I’ve never stopped painting, never stopped creating.”

To learn more about the artist and to view her complete portfolio, visit christinedozier.com. For more information, please contact the City of Ocala Cultural Arts and Sciences Division at 352-629-8447 or artinfo@ocalafl.org; or visit ocalafl.org/artincityspaces.