Dru Pilmer

DRU PILMER, MFA, DLT, a descendent of renowned New England portrait painter and Morse Code inventor Samuel Finley .B. Morse, is best known for her unique watercolor portraits.  She was born in Rhode Island to a Naval fighter pilot and a former University of California fashion design major, but she grew up in Mississippi, her father’s last duty station.  Dru’s been drawing since she could hold a pencil, and began in her teens to win art awards, scholarships, commissions, and jobs for her paintings, which included several wall murals, portraits, and courtroom drawings. 

While most of her undergraduate work was in painting, Dru went on to become a professional actor, performing all over the country.  During that time she also earned her designation as currently, one of less than 140 Linklater Voice Teachers in the world.  Dru recently has returned to her passion for abstracts.  Her work in theatre and improvisation, which includes the dramatic, artful use of patterns in space and the act of being “in the moment” to allow the subconscious to guide her work, informs her latest bold, energetic abstracted paintings.  Many of her abstracts began as subconscious patterns that flash as conscious images, or in sketches where Dru allows the subconscious to guide.  These initial images are later developed during the painting exploration, a process Dru describes as a kind of “jazz riffing”.    

Dru’s abstract paintings and watercolor portraits are in collections in California, New York, Mississippi, North Carolina and in Louisville.  Having recently served as Kentucky Shakespeare Festival’s Master Voice Teacher, Ms. Pilmer is a theatre adjunct faculty member at Indiana University Southeast and faculty member of StageLab, an acting studio. She continues to teach theatre and voice, coaching actors, business people, and local TV personalities.  She also directs, and on occasion, acts.   Her painting studio #156 is located at the Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center, Louisville, Kentucky.

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