NANCY AZARA + DARLA BJORK | Shared Legacy · Opus 40 Closing Reception: Dance Performance by Fanny Perez · 3:00 PM

Nancy Azara + Darla Bjork | Shared Legacy hosts a closing reception for the artist, Darla Bjork on Sunday 21 June, from 2:00 - 5:00 PM at The Richards Gallery | Opus 40, 356 George Sickle Road, Saugerties, NY 12477

Fanny Perez, a renowned Sufi dancer, will perform at Opus 40 at 3:00 PM

Exhibition Dates: May 15 - June 21, 2026
Closing reception: Sunday 21 June 2:00 - 5:00 PM
Exhibition website | Reception Tickets

ABOUT NANCY AZARA + DARLA BJORK | Shared Legacy: This two-woman exhibition features the sculptures, paintings, and prints by the late feminist artist Nancy Azara (1939-2024), and encaustic and oil paintings by her widow, Darla Björk.Together for over 40 years, Nancy Azara and Darla Bjork were a couple during a transitional time in American history, from a barely tolerated union in the 80s through an official recognition of their relationship in 2011, when gay marriage finally became legal in New York State. The artists were both part of the New York Feminist Art Institute, an organization that grew out of the 1970s feminist movement and offered art and writing classes taught by women for women.
Closing with a reception for the artist, Darla Bjork, on Sunday 21 June from 2:00 - 5:00 PM, this exhibition will travel to Venice, Italy, for an affiliated show at Castello 925 during the 61st Venice Biennale. More info

A special Sufi dance by Fanny Perez will be performed on the Opus 40 stage at 3:00 PM. Ms. Perez has performed worldwide and most recently at the current Venice Biennale.

ABOUT NANCY AZARA: Nancy Azara was an artist and feminist educator best known for her large-scale wood sculptures and mixed media collages. Nancy developed a distinct style of sculpture - found wood, carved, ornamented, and mounted. Instinctive chip carving peels off an outer layer of wood, reaching for an essentialized raw experience of the body, of the limbs, exposing flesh and blood. This work explored life cycles, using the metaphor of a tree to represent personhood. Egg tempera, often in reds and pinks, and aluminum, palladium, and metal leaf gilding recover these exposed layers, exploring folkloric stories of women’s roles, goddess imagery, ancient symbols, mystical spiritual traditions, and the affirmation of the female self.

ABOUT DARLA BJORK: Darla Bjork is an artist who, early on, channeled her creative energy into her career as a psychiatrist in NYC. While her lines and forms often appear simple, there are always formative structures and elements beneath. The layering and depth seem to reflect insights drawn from Darla’s years working in psychiatry. She is an artist whose paintings often reveal the hidden layers of human life.
Darla has had solo exhibits in the United States and Europe. Originally a founding member of Ceres Gallery, a women-run, non-profit collective gallery in downtown Manhattan, she joined SOHO20 Gallery, a women’s collective gallery founded in 1973, where she continues to be a member. ​ Bjork co-authored an essay with Nancy Azara, published in "Entering the Picture:Judy Chicago, The Fresno Feminist Art Program, and the Collective Visions of Women Artists", edited by Jill Fields, Routledge, 09/14/2011.