Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dana Richardson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I entered the field of art education thinking I needed a job to support my artmaking, but something else happened. Several years after getting a BFA in painting, I decided I needed a secure job. I found out that I was not the type of person who could be uncertain of finances and be happily creative. You have to accept the type of person you are. I began teaching art at a high school. I didn’t want to quit making art, and I felt that going into art education wasn’t quitting, though I know many artists who think if you aren’t supporting yourself with art sales you aren’t being an artist. What shocked me was how much teaching actually supported my artmaking not just financial but conceptually. Continuing to study art movements, various art processes in drawing, painting and photography has enriched my work in ways I’m not sure any other field could have. It’s certainly not an easy job, it’s incredibly demanding on your interpersonal skills. However when I put together a lesson I take the students’ perspective so as to learn how to teach them. It’s sort of like embodying the persona of the learner. What I found was that I am both a teacher and a student. In a way they are the same thing.

Dana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My work centers around the landscape and color theory. I find color to be the most immediate mnemonic for feeling, it’s as quick as snapping your fingers. In my previous work I have used collage and hard edges to better understand the way color works, taking my cues from Diebenkorn, and Hiroshi Yoshida. I have worked plein air to strengthen my color perception. Working outside where light changes, is fugitive, you have to chase it and come to terms with an element of invention and failure. Being so overwhelmed by visual data you have to put your hand in and grasp what you can. I spent a year at a plein air painting school in the South of France before college. It took a lot of ideas from Cezanne and the Impressionists in that color is relative. You can learn how to see beyond local color. Colors are reflecting off each other, and therefore change as we shift our attention. Even what seems solid and certain in the landscape isn’t. Neither the internal nor the external landscape is unchangeable.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal as an artist is to pull my interior experiences out and show them externally. I hope to be very honest and not be overly critical of myself. As I tell my students, come at your work from a place of curiosity rather than criticism!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Maria Brophy’s “Art, Money, Success” helped me a lot when I was starting to build my business. I recommend it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.danarichardsonart.com
• Instagram: @danawrich

Image Credits
John Alexander Photo