Eileen Dorsey was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She studied painting at Kent State University, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Dorsey is known best for her color-infused oil paintings of local forests; though she also creates public artworks around the county, working with both public and private residences, corporations, and franchises. You may have seen some of her murals around the Cleveland area and beyond. Some of her clients include NBC, Sherwin Williams, Barrio Tacos, Redwood Apartments and Living, MetroHealth Medical Center, University Hospitals, Southwest General Hospitals, and globally known band Twenty One Pilots.
Dorsey has won several awards for her fine art and mural work and has become a prominent name in Northeast Ohio, being voted as “Best Artist” & “Best Painter” in Cleveland, by the readers of Scene Magazine and Cleveland Magazine for the past 8 years in a row. In 2021, the mayor of her hometown of Westlake, gave a proclamation officially declaring July 31st of 2021 as “Eileen Dorsey Day.”
GalERIE Exhibition: February-March 2026
It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination
This is a collection of work spanning a dozen years, that approaches the landscape in various styles and techniques. Although I have been painting since I began art school in 2002, my career didn’t start taking shape until the 2010’s when I took a month off to travel to the Pacific West Coast. I fell in love with the landscape on the trip. You see, up until then I was a figurative painter (meaning, painting people) but when I returned from this trip, I began to paint the landscapes I encountered on my travels and have painted mostly landscapes since then. I traveled a lot in that decade, taking photos along my way and painting versions of them when I got home to my studio in Cleveland, OH. When I didn’t travel, I explored the vast forests of Northeast Ohio and soon, devoted much of my work to studying the forests near my home.
Through expressions of light and color I began to paint scenes from the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I would visit these parks often, recognizing the trees on the paths I would frequent. Every visit was a new discovery. The lighting, the colors, I was always feeling like I was seeing something new, yet familiar at the same time. I began to see the nuances of color shifting as the light of day changed. The reflections of the sky would dapple hues of blue onto the bark of the trees. The leaves on the ground shimmered in pale pink hues. I started to see the colors in front of me, not just what I knew was there. I took note of these colors and would paint them in slightly more exaggerated forms. Soon my work became more vibrant and less realistic, capturing the spirit of the place rather than the place itself. This discovery of color is my current inspiration that can be seen in many of these works.
This collection of work tells a story of discovery, using paint as a medium of expression and exploration. I am reflecting on my story in these oils and acrylic works, using them as building blocks for future paintings.
