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Artist Dixie Galapon
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Psychologist Dixie Galapon hopes her art helps bring inner peace. |
Dixie Galapon began painting by sheer accident at age 13.
“I found oil paints in my home that were left there by the previous owner, and I had a school assignment to make something creative,” Galapon said.
While that youthful experiment with oils didn’t inspire her to continue with art in high school, she gave it another chance while attending UC Irvine.
“I was working on a BA in psychology, but I was always drawn to art, so I chose it as my minor,” she said.
In college, she dabbled in a variety of media, including drawing and ceramics, but her class schedule never actually allowed her to take a painting class.
After graduating, Galapon once again put art on hold for a while to pursue an academic life. She entered the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego and worked for six years to earn both her master’s degree and a doctorate.
“Even though I was busy with studying, I still found time to paint during school holidays and when I would travel,” she said. “I’d try to bring back some kind of memory from my travels, and that’s how I stayed connected with art.”
According to Galapon, when she was in college she never thought that she’d spend more than a few hours on art as a hobby, but while attending graduate school, she still maintained her interest. In 1994, she held her first art show at San Diego’s Living Room Coffeehouse. She followed it the next year with an exhibit at Bernini’s Café in La Jolla. For a busy graduate student, she always managed to make time for at least one exhibit a year.
By 1998, she had completed her doctorate and began working as a multicultural psychologist. Now working at an agency that helps new immigrants adapt to life in the United States, Galapon finds that her career naturally influences what she wants to bring to her paintings.
“Being a psychologist, my goal is to help bring some inner peace to people through my work,” she said. “I like to create something that they can focus on for meditation that brings them to a positive place.”
Galapon describes her painting style as impressionistic. She favors vibrant colors in her landscapes that often depict the 30 different countries that she’s visited.
“I try to evoke a sense of place for people,” she said. “A lot of people look at my work and say it really takes them there, whether it’s a place that they’ve been to or a place that they dream about visiting.”
While Galapon also paints some still lifes and portraits, much of her work depicts some aspect of travel, such as scenes of a Hawaiian beach or a French café. She recently returned from the Philippines, which is one of her favorite places, along with France and Italy. She doesn’t exclude the beauty of the San Diego region from her art and enjoys painting scenes of Balboa Park and La Jolla Cove.
While the exotic places that she visits often inspire her, she doesn’t always paint them on location.
“I’ll take photos to bring home and then paint from them,” she said. “Other times, my paintings are adapted from photos that I happen to find.”
Last year, Nordstrom’s Department Store chose two of Galapon’s pieces for their Asian Pacific Islander exhibit. They displayed her work in their Orange County store.
Galapon began her formal art training after finishing her Ph.D. She enrolled in painting classes at the Salon of Art in Mission Hills where Concetta Antico was her instructor. She credits Antico with helping her make the transition from using acrylics to painting with oils.
Galapon, who still takes occasional classes with Antico, wants to continue developing as an artist.
“We should constantly challenge ourselves, and Antico’s able to do that for me,” said Galapon. “She has helped me grow in so many different ways as an artist.”
Galapon’s artistic goal is ‘to bring more people into her pieces while still focusing a lot on place.’
Lately, Galapon has been doing plein air paintings. She works on 9-by-12-inch pieces outdoors and tries to complete them within two hours.
An exhibit of Galapon’s work recently closed at the Del Mar Art Center Gallery. Her next show will open at The Salon of Art on Dec. 8 at 902 Fort Stockton in San Diego. A reception will begin at 6 p.m.
View Galapon’s work at www.dixiegalapon.com.