Daggi WallaceBorn and raised in Berlin, Germany (b. 1962), and currently living near Los Angeles, CA, Daggi is a self-taught award winning painter specializing in contemporary figurative realism and portraiture. She has reached the level of Eminent Pastelist of the International Association of Pastel Societies and Master Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America as well as Signature Membership in several pastel societies. Working primarily in pastel and charcoal she pushes the more traditional boundaries of the medium by incorporating other materials and mediums into her work and presentation. Inspired by her dual cultural life she mixes realism with abstraction and personal narrative with social and political undercurrents. Her work has been shown at the National Arts Club and the Salmagundi Club in NYC, the Butler Institute of American Art, OH, The Zhou B. Art Center in Chicago, The Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art and is in several permanent corporate collections as well as private collections, including The Bennett Collection, throughout the U.S. and Europe. Galleries that have shown her work include RJD Gallery in NY and Abend Gallery in CO. She has won numerous awards in national and international exhibitions. Her work has been published in many magazines and books, including Poets and Artists Magazine, American Art Collector, Southwest Art, Professional Artist Magazine, International Artist Magazine, The Pastel Journal and Pratique Des Arts in France. Besides creating work for exhibitions and teaching workshops Daggi accepts portrait commissions in her Camarillo, CA, studio throughout the year.daggistudio@aol.com