Ipcar was born November 12, 1917, in
Windsor, Vermont, the younger of two children, to parents
William and
Marguerite Zorach. She was raised in
Greenwich Village, New York City; attended the
City and Country School,
Caroline Pratt's famous progressive school; and grew up surrounded by bohemian influences. Encouraged by her parents, she started painting at a very young age. She briefly attended
Oberlin, dropping out after only one semester, frustrated with the academic restrictions on her artistic expression. In 1936, at the age of 18, Dahlov married Adolph Ipcar, a 30 year old man hired to tutor her in math for her college tests. They spent that year in New York City, with Adolph working as a math tutor while Dahlov taught art two days a week. The following winter, they decided to move into the extra farm house on her parents' property in
Georgetown, Maine, and started a farm of their own. ==Career==