Ilana Appleby is an award-winning artist in drawing, kinetic sculpture, stone-carving, silk-screen printing, and photography. Her most recent set of works are hundreds of Pen & Ink drawings, captured primarily in the dark, as audience to performances, rehearsals, and in-studio visits of the American Ballet Theatre and the Connecticut Ballet, and informed by many muses:

• Edgar Degas’ subject of the dancer

• Al Hirschfeld’s capture of the expressions and gestures of stage performers as he sketched from the audience

• Keith Haring’s simplicity in the evocation of human movement and emotion

• Alexander Calder’s athletic circus wire figures

As iconic, expressive, and compelling as the works of the masters before her, Appleby’s drawings in the Dancer Art © Notecard Series convey the motion, gesture, liquidity, strength, and vitality of these graceful athletes. These minimalist works invite viewers to participate in a visual dialogue, immersing themselves in the moment, and "filling in" the blanks, akin to the audience doing so with the “space between the words” in dramatic productions, and the “space between the notes” in musical performances.

The Dancer Art © Notecards are available as 96 different images, selected from several hundred drawings, meticulously printed in premium cardstock and packaged individually in crystal clear cello sleeves or as tulle-decorated clear soft boxed sets of eight assorted cards. There are twelve series of boxed sets, designated 1-12 in Italian as Primo, Secondo, Terzo, Quarto, Quinto, Sesto, Settimo, Ottavo, Decimo, Undicesimo, and Dodicesimo. Framed works of archivally-matted premium prints of one or more of the drawings are available and have been exhibited in several galleries. A framed work of 12 of the drawings received 1st Prize in Drawing in a cash award exhibition in Connecticut.

The artist’s signature dancer motifs appear in other iterations, as jewelry, and dancer wire sculptures for wall, window, and tree décor as well as kinetic sculpture mobiles. The Arabesque Pendant and Lapel Pin/Tie tack/Brooch are available in solid sterling silver and by custom order in 14K gold, and with options for an inset of a diamond or birthstone. The energetic and joyful drawings that reveal the love of the art form of dance may be rendered hand-painted or printed on silk scarves, umbrellas, clothing, and satchels by custom order.

As an artist member of MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the Rowayton Arts Center, the Stamford Art Association, and a member of the Graphic Artists Guild and the Art Students League, Appleby has exhibited and sold Dancer Art © and other works in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and abroad.