We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dani Coronado a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dani, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents and I did not always have the best relationship- I’m sure many can relate- but they are both vital to my success as an artist. My mother loves the fine arts. We grew up going to the St. Louis Muny, the Fabulous Fox theater, various ballets, live music, galleries, sculpture parks, and the St. Louis Art Museum. She is a great supporter of the arts, and appreciates the ‘beauty’ of visual art. My father, on the other hand, practiced art. He did not pursue a career in the arts, but throughout his life he would draw, paint, and take photographs. He was highly influenced by his love for comic books. My father has been collecting comics since he was a young boy, to the point that our house is filled with his series! All of these artistic talents, from Jack Kirby to Osamu Tezuka, inspired his creativity and, therefore, mine. My father would draw with me constantly- and I still have some of our sketches. He always had faith in my art skills and pushed me to apply for multiple art programs after high school. When choosing a career, my father pushed me to pursue art and my mother pushed me to pursue a more stable career. Thus, I became an art teacher!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born and raised in St. Louis County, then moved to Kansas City in 2011 for school. Since then, I have taught art to groups from age 4 to 90 years old. Other than freelance art education, I continue to make personal work and exhibit throughout the city. I also take part in artist groups such as the Third Friday Art Walk committee and M.A.S.A, a new artist assembly that will have it’s first exhibition July 2023. I consider myself a multidisciplinary artist. Painting is my primary medium, specifically with acrylic and oil. I love to use an acrylic base then create various textures with some ooey-gooey linseed oil. As for drawing, I rarely use graphite but prefer colored pencils, markers, and ink. Sculpture has always been something I’ve enjoyed and recently I have been creating plaster blocks using a printmaking technique that I learned from my professor Hye Young Shin. My newest exploration has been loom work. Fibers have always been a hobby, but I am excited to translate that hobby into my portfolio.
I am most proud of my thesis exhibition in April of 2022. My show, Mixto, traversed the borderlands of my white-ness and latina-ness. Through academic research of historic traditions, native resources, and powerful symbols of Inca culture, I created a series of artwork that reflected my experience as a Peruvian Midwestern Woman. Corn is used in many of these pieces to reveal a more intimate side of my heritage, giving homage to its use in ancient ceremonial puberty rites of the Inka. This body of work has culminated into a slurry of heritage, sexuality, and spirituality; which led me to it’s title.
I do take commissions and would love to talk with anyone about their creative ideas, but am a bit slow right now as I am back in the classroom as an adjunct professor at MCCKC Blue River. Feel free to email or message me with any questions!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Money. There should not be a glorified trope called ‘the Starving Artist’. It is a shame that society believes this is okay. Please buy handmade art! From the many tables of art I have set up, I realize that people rarely want to purchase original artwork anymore. People want prints. I love a good artist print myself, but if we only buy prints for cheap then we are barely supporting the artist. So, buy handmade and local goods. Support local artists. Our time is definitely worth the money.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2020 I quit my full time teaching career to go back to school for studio art. This was a planned but still very wild decision. I have never not worked. I was lucky to have a supportive partner and family, which allowed me to take a financial step back while in school. The world took a turn, though, and the pandemic struck. This added more instability to my life (as well as everyone’s lives), but I persisted through grad school and graduated with a MA in Studio Art with honors. At this point I had to choose- go back to teaching full time or take the next year to explore career options. I took the latter and decided to explore life as a full time artist. Turns out, it’s extremely difficult! And it is not a life meant for me. I need the stability of a career or job to make the art that I want to make. Without that stability, I couldn’t make anything worthwhile. It took this big life change to figure that out.

Contact Info:

• Website: dcorn.art
• Instagram: dcorn.arts
• Facebook: dcorn.arts
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
All photographs taken by artist