Nita Engle

Nita Engle
Born 1926
Michigan
Nationality American
Education School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Known for Painting

Nita Engle (born 1926, Michigan) is an American watercolor painter. She has worked as an art director and magazine illustrator and exhibited in and out of the United States. Engle has received several awards, including an honorary doctorate from Northern Michigan University. A documentary has been made about her entitled Wilderness Palette - Nita Engle in Michigan and she wrote the book How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself: Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects.

Biography

Nita Joy Engle was born in Michigan in 1925 or 1926. Her parents were Charles, born in Michigan, and Sally Engle, who immigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1899. Charles was a state police officer and sergeant. Her younger brother is James.[1][2] Engle attended high school in Marquette, Michigan. She then studied at Northern Michigan University.[3] Engle attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for four years, during which time she studied at Roosevelt University.[4]

She was employed at a Chicago advertising agency as an art director. Then, she obtained full-time positions working for New York and Chicago publications, ranging from "Reader's Digest to Playboy."[3][4] In the 1940s the art world was a male-dominated field, so early on in her career she signed her work "N. Engle" so that she did not disclose her gender.

A member and frequent exhibitor of the American Watercolor Society since 1969.[3][4] Her works were exhibited at the "1976 - 200 Years of American Illustration" - along with Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and Winslow Homer - and other Society of Illustrators exhibitions in New York. She has participated in annual Great Women Artists of America Show. She participated in "International Waters," a show of works of artists from the United States and Great Britain; She was one of 20 American artists to participate. Engle was selected to exhibit in Taipei, Republic of China.[4][4]

Mill Pond Press began making prints of her work in 1981. Engle returned to Marquette, Michigan and set up a studio overlooking Lake Superior. She has given workshops in the United States, Asia, Africa and Tahiti, which have been inspiration from some of her wilderness and nature paintings. She has a unique way of making her paintings by "throwing, squirting, pouring and spraying" paint onto the paper.[3]

Wilderness Palette - Nita Engle in Michigan, a PBS documentary film of her work, was made in 1985 in Anchorage, Alaska by KAKM.[3][4] She has said, "There is so little wilderness left; we are surrounded by pavement. My goal is to take you into the landscape through my painting."[4]

One of her works, Grouse Country is owned by the Art of the Embassies Program, United States Department of State. It was a donation by Robert Lewin.[5] A retrospective of her work was held at the DeVos Art Museum in Marquette in 2010.[3]

Awards and honors

Publications

References

  1. ↑ 1930; Census Place: Marquette, Marquette, Michigan; Roll: 1010; Page: 27A; Enumeration District: 0021; Image: 733.0; FHL microfilm: 2340745. United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
  2. ↑ 1940; Census Place: Marquette, Marquette, Michigan; Roll: T627_1787; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 52-32. United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nita Engle. DeVos Art Museum, Northern Michigan University. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Nita Engle. The Mill Pond Press Companies. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ Nita Engle. Art for the Embassies. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
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