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Artist Statement
CURRENT WORK
My latest work is in layered oil on raw linen, with gold leaf and sometimes stitching fabric. I explore what is seen and what remains hidden. Figures, landscapes, and fragments emerge and recede through transparent passages, unfinished surfaces, and accumulated layers, creating images that feel remembered rather than observed. The process reflects the way experience is carried—not as a fixed narrative, but as something continually revealed, concealed, and transformed. I am interested in the invisible stories that shape us long before we know we are carrying them. My paintings inhabit that unseen terrain where memory, imagination, and lived experience converge. While rooted in personal experience, the latest works are not illustrations of specific events. By leaving room for ambiguity, I invite viewers to recognize something of their own histories, losses, and celebrations within the work. Ultimately, I paint the invisible architecture of a life—the rooms we carry, the promises we inherit, and the quiet resilience that allows us to become more than either. I paint the places where care should have been—and the people who emerge anyway. We live in an imperfect world; art does not need to be pristine to hold meaning. I find beauty in the flaw, the fissure, and the honest vulnerability of an altered surface.
EARLIER PAINTING
These earlier, works done in oil on linen and wood panel utilize birds and flora as quiet metaphors for how closely celebration and structural loss are intertwined in our daily existence. As author Martín Prechtel writes, in the Maya language, grief and praise are ultimately the same concept—if we try to pull out the weeds of grief, we pull out the flowers of praise as well, leaving the garden bare. I later discover clay and based my clay paintings on this theme. Ultimately the underlying messages from this series lead to my current work.
MFA PAINTING
In this earlier work, I used my own image as a vehicle. I posed for photographs that serve as source material. An actor playing a part, I place myself into a memory, situation or anothers footsteps. I become both the subject and the observer, enabling me to see through both subjective and objective eyes .The figures are swathed, wrapped, costumed, or even coddled with clothing, and they inhabit ambiguous spaces. I cover parts of the face to remove natural points of focus. Often all the viewer sees is the back of the figure. Through careful staging and costuming, I intend other connotations—masks/veils/religious regalia or ceremonial attire. This series came about when in the MFA program I decided to do a non-portrait series still using the figure.
CURRENT WORK
My latest work is in layered oil on raw linen, with gold leaf and sometimes stitching fabric. I explore what is seen and what remains hidden. Figures, landscapes, and fragments emerge and recede through transparent passages, unfinished surfaces, and accumulated layers, creating images that feel remembered rather than observed. The process reflects the way experience is carried—not as a fixed narrative, but as something continually revealed, concealed, and transformed. I am interested in the invisible stories that shape us long before we know we are carrying them. My paintings inhabit that unseen terrain where memory, imagination, and lived experience converge. While rooted in personal experience, the latest works are not illustrations of specific events. By leaving room for ambiguity, I invite viewers to recognize something of their own histories, losses, and celebrations within the work. Ultimately, I paint the invisible architecture of a life—the rooms we carry, the promises we inherit, and the quiet resilience that allows us to become more than either. I paint the places where care should have been—and the people who emerge anyway. We live in an imperfect world; art does not need to be pristine to hold meaning. I find beauty in the flaw, the fissure, and the honest vulnerability of an altered surface.
EARLIER PAINTING
These earlier, works done in oil on linen and wood panel utilize birds and flora as quiet metaphors for how closely celebration and structural loss are intertwined in our daily existence. As author Martín Prechtel writes, in the Maya language, grief and praise are ultimately the same concept—if we try to pull out the weeds of grief, we pull out the flowers of praise as well, leaving the garden bare. I later discover clay and based my clay paintings on this theme. Ultimately the underlying messages from this series lead to my current work.
MFA PAINTING
In this earlier work, I used my own image as a vehicle. I posed for photographs that serve as source material. An actor playing a part, I place myself into a memory, situation or anothers footsteps. I become both the subject and the observer, enabling me to see through both subjective and objective eyes .The figures are swathed, wrapped, costumed, or even coddled with clothing, and they inhabit ambiguous spaces. I cover parts of the face to remove natural points of focus. Often all the viewer sees is the back of the figure. Through careful staging and costuming, I intend other connotations—masks/veils/religious regalia or ceremonial attire. This series came about when in the MFA program I decided to do a non-portrait series still using the figure.
Bio
Allie Regan Dickerson is a Dallas-based painter whose work explores memory, loss, resilience, and the structures formed by human experience. Working currently primarily in oil on linen, Dickerson incorporates collage, fabric, stitching, gold leaf, and other material interventions into paintings that examine the relationship between memory, lived experience, and what remains unseen.
Dickerson holds an MFA in Painting from Texas Christian University and a BFA in Painting/Graphic Design from the University of Texas at Arlington. She completed studio art coursework at Stony Brook University’s Fine Arts Center. Her recent exhibitions include The Marks We Make at Fort Works Art, Fort Worth; a group exhibition at the New York Academy of Art; and her solo exhibition This Is How We Remember at Fort Works Art, which followed her selection for the Gallery of Dreams Residency. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, Issue #108, and Patron Magazine.
In 2025, Dickerson was selected for the Crystal Bridges Museum Art Fair. In 2026, she was selected for Texas Talent at Artspace111 in Fort Worth and will be a featured artist in the Arthouse 2026 15th Anniversary Celebration Showcase in Dallas. She was also invited to contribute a work to the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center Gala Art Auction, supporting the Center’s work with children who have experienced trauma and their families. Selected participating artists, including Dickerson, are featured in a preview exhibition at the North Park Center overseen by the Nasher family.
Allie Regan Dickerson is a Dallas-based painter whose work explores memory, loss, resilience, and the structures formed by human experience. Working currently primarily in oil on linen, Dickerson incorporates collage, fabric, stitching, gold leaf, and other material interventions into paintings that examine the relationship between memory, lived experience, and what remains unseen.
Dickerson holds an MFA in Painting from Texas Christian University and a BFA in Painting/Graphic Design from the University of Texas at Arlington. She completed studio art coursework at Stony Brook University’s Fine Arts Center. Her recent exhibitions include The Marks We Make at Fort Works Art, Fort Worth; a group exhibition at the New York Academy of Art; and her solo exhibition This Is How We Remember at Fort Works Art, which followed her selection for the Gallery of Dreams Residency. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, Issue #108, and Patron Magazine.
In 2025, Dickerson was selected for the Crystal Bridges Museum Art Fair. In 2026, she was selected for Texas Talent at Artspace111 in Fort Worth and will be a featured artist in the Arthouse 2026 15th Anniversary Celebration Showcase in Dallas. She was also invited to contribute a work to the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center Gala Art Auction, supporting the Center’s work with children who have experienced trauma and their families. Selected participating artists, including Dickerson, are featured in a preview exhibition at the North Park Center overseen by the Nasher family.
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