Precision Dreaming: Dalia Ramanauskas | Works Across Fifty Years
On view December 11, 2024 – January 24, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 11, 5–7 PM
Creative Arts Workshop proudly presents Precision Dreaming: Dalia Ramanauskas | Works Across Fifty Years, a retrospective exhibition celebrating the extraordinary life and career of Connecticut-based artist Dalia Ramanauskas (b. 1936, Lithuania). Opening with a public reception on Thursday, December 11, from 5–7 PM, the exhibition features more than 60 works on paper and paintings spanning 1963 to 2015, alongside an in-depth video interview with curator Eric Litke. Installed on both floors of CAW’s Hilles Gallery, Precision Dreaming traces a remarkable artistic journey defined by precision, imagination, and lifelong reinvention.
Ramanauskas immigrated to the United States with her family in 1949, arriving in New Haven five years after being forced to flee Lithuania and move through a series of resettlement camps and temporary shelters. After completing high school and college locally, she eventually settled in Ivoryton in 1966 with her husband, sculptor Leo V. Jensen (1926-2019).
In 1961, Ramanauskas left her teaching career to pursue life as a full-time artist—a decision that led to national recognition for her meticulously rendered pen-and-ink drawings rooted in still-life observation. Her work was exhibited widely in New York and across the country for more than four decades and is held in major museum collections, including the Yale University Art Gallery, which has generously lent works for this exhibition.
Precision Dreaming also highlights a period of spirited renewal in the early 2000s, when Ramanauskas—then in her mid-sixties—embraced oil painting with the same exacting detail and sense of wonder that define her earlier works. This body of work reveals an artist who continued to evolve creatively, even after decades of success.
“Dalia’s work embodies both discipline and freedom,” notes curator Eric Litke. “Across fifty years, she demonstrates how precision and playfulness can coexist—each feeding the other to create art that feels both timeless and deeply personal.”
Though representing only a fraction of Ramanauskas’s prolific output, Precision Dreaming offers an immersive introduction to her enduring vision. It invites visitors to experience an artist whose life and work reflect resilience, imagination, and an unwavering dedication to craft.
Most works featured in the exhibition will be for sale.