NEWS

Established in 1985 though the generosity of Lee Krasner—one of the foremost Abstract Expressionist painters of the 20th century—the Foundation is a leader in providing resources to emerging and established visual artists. To date, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation has awarded more than 5,200 grants to professional artists and organizations in 80 countries, for a total of over $94 million.

Through its individual artist grants, the Foundation provides direct support that allows professional artists the time, space, and resources to meaningfully pursue their artistic practice. 

The PKF will announce all winners in mid-2026 at https://www.pkf.org

Solo exhibition of paintings at Gallery NAGA Boston

My work explores ideas of nature and culture: how language, art history, philosophy, and science define and shape our understanding of the world. I articulate these ideas into paintings that offer a loving critique of our ways embedded within a vision of harmony.

Since 2014, I’ve been working with hand-marbled paint on canvas, using its fluid, unpredictable patterns to echo forms found in nature like leaves and branches, currents and geological lines. These patterns form the foundation of my compositions, linking human figures and landscapes in a shared visual language.

During a recent residency in Vienna I spent time studying Gustav Klimt’s paintings. His group compositions, especially The Bride, Death and Life, and The Maiden called to me. I saw in them the joy and anguish of being alive; of loving, dying, and changing. The figures twist and fold like windblown petals or eddies in water, movements not unlike those in my marbled surfaces. I allowed Klimt’s influence to mingle with other inspirations: Brazilian textiles, ornate jewelry, and natural forms embedding ideas of cultural hybridity and the decorative as political.
Underlying all is a belief I hold close: that nature and humanity are not separate. I draw from the wisdom of ecofeminism, which recognizes the parallels between how we treat the Earth and how we treat one another. In every brushstroke and form, I try to reflect a world that honors care over control, harmony over hierarchy. Ecofeminism reminds me that all life is sacred, that we are part of a cycle of birth, growth, death, and renewal.
In my paintings, the human figure is incorporated into living ecologies rather than isolated from it. They reimagine our relationship with nature not as something to control or idealize but as a dynamic, interwoven force central to our histories, identities, and shared future.

I’m happy to post that I am back from a residency at SOON Art Studio Kunst und Kultur in beautiful Vienna. I researched the works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele for inspiration for my upcoming solo exhibition at Gallery NAGA (Nov 2025), and exhibited a group of oil paintings at SOON Kunstgallerie.

My work is centered on examining the idea of nature as a feminized entity, and my research was focused on Klimt’s stylistic approach to multi-figure compositions. I am exploring solo and group compositions with male and female figures to articulate a vision of balance and harmony in humanity’s relationship with nature. I am looking forward to sharing my work with you this November! Love, Dinora

Dinora Justice is exhibiting paintings at Marc Straus Gallery in New York city in the show titled “We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live”, which features seven artists of diverse backgrounds – Julie Buffalohead, Ambreen Butt, Angela Fraleigh, Dinorá Justice, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Orkideh Torabi & Marie Watt. The show is inspired by Joan Didion’s book of the same name.

In her collection of essays Didion explores the power of narrative and its role in shaping our understanding of reality; she examines how stories, both personal and cultural, help us make sense of our lives and cope with chaos. Reflecting on subjects such as personal identity, the nature of reality, and the interplay between memory and storytelling, Didion searches for insight into how we construct meaning and navigate the complexities of existence.

Revisiting Western art history, Dinorá Justice’s series of works “after” renowned nineteenth century European male artists examines the placement of women in traditional landscapes across the canon. For example, Portrait 79, after Manet’s ‘Olympia’ draws upon the artist’s long-standing interest in ecofeminism, which critically considers the ways in which femininity and the natural world have often been linguistically and culturally conjoined. She uses verdant greenery, colorful Brazilian fabric designs, and hand-marbled canvases to remix these quintessential art historical forms. Ultimately, Justice’s work questions the power relationships between artists, their subjects, and the wider world as stand-ins for our own relationships with gender and nature.

My solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is open!

Visit the Edward Linde Gallery 168 in the contemporary wing to see it until April 14th, 2024.

Solo exhibition by Dinora Justice at Gallery NAGA, Boston

You are invited to my solo exhibition of new paintings at Gallery NAGA on May 5th until June 3rd, with an opening reception on May 5th from 5 to 7PM. I will also have a conversation about my work with MFA Boston curator Michelle Millar Fisher on Thursday, May 11th at 5:30 pm. It would be lovely to see you there!

I’ll keep you posted on a very exciting exhibition at the MFA Boston in 2023!

massculturalcouncil.org/artists-art/artist-fellowships/funding-list/

Last year I won a very nice grant from my alma matter, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, to go to Paris and Florence to research art related to Orientalism. The pandemic had started in Wuhan in December of 2019, and my flights and lodging were all booked for mid-February. So I decided to go ahead as planned. Coronavirus was all over the news when I got to Europe, and everything was very uncertain. I carried on my research, visiting numerous museums (some several times), and practicing mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing. The whole time I felt the virus nipping at my heels, as museums would be haltingly closing to visitors then reopening, and I had to be flexible and have alternative plans so as not to waste precious time. I managed to stay in Europe for the 28 days that I had planned, and I credit it to luck and to listening to science. When I was younger I caught a random virus that put me in the hospital for two weeks fighting for my life, and left me with the right side of my face paralyzed. Viruses are unpredictable and I take them seriously, so with Covid-19 I left nothing to chance. I didn’t get sick, nor did I bring the virus home to my family. As for my work, the results of my research are beginning to materialize in paintings and clay sculptures. I will be adding images to my online portfolio frequently, so please come back often to check it out! Thank you so much for looking. Love, Dinora

BOSTON and MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (April 28, 2020)—The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (SMFA at Tufts) has announced its 2020 class of SMFA at Tufts Traveling Fellows, which includes 10 artists whose distinctive work was judged to be worthy of the prestigious program’s support.

The SMFA Traveling Fellowships provide critical early-career support for SMFA at Tufts alumni, allowing them to further develop and inform their practice. Selected by a jury, SMFA Traveling Fellowship recipients receive up to $10,000 to pursue travel and research related to their art. The application process is open to alumni working in any contemporary visual art discipline.

In existence since 1899 and one of the largest endowed art school grant programs in the United States, this year’s fellows will travel to at least 22 sites in 13 countries.

Dinora Justice (MFA ’14), of Newton, Mass. Justice will travel to Paris and Florence, Italy to research Orientalist paintings of women to explore the role of fantasy in the process of “othering,” and its connection to gender power dynamics and environmental issues.

The jury selecting the 2020 SMFA Traveling Fellowship recipients was composed of Lisa Crossman, curator of Mead Art Museum at Amherst College; Kate McNamara, independent curator and creative director at My HomeCourt; and Andrew Witkin, co-owner and director at Krakow Witkin Gallery.

Notable past winners of the fellowships include Nan Goldin (Dip ’77), Ellen Gallagher (Dip ’92), Omer Fast (BFA/BA ’95), and Mike and Doug Starn (Dip ’84), as well as more recent graduates such as Evelyn Rydz (MFA ’05), Gonzalo Fuenmayor (MFA ’04) and Daniela Rivera (MFA ’06).

The Traveling Fellowships is one of many programs at SMFA at Tufts that supports artists in every stage of their careers. For more information, visit https://smfa.tufts.edu/.

The SMFA Fellows’ travel will begin when travel restrictions and limitations caused by COVID-19 ease.

https://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/smfa-tufts-announces-2020-traveling-fellows