So I wanted to share a little more about who I am as a person and business. I grew up in Paradise California. It was a great place to grow up. I had a small creek behind my house where I play in a lot. I had friends within walking distance. Hills and trees everywhere making it a beautiful place to be. Early on I was interested in art. I remember going to Johnny apple seed day as a kid. I loved seeing the floats go down Sky Way and seeing vendors with handmade crafted items. I have always made little things out of leather or bracelets out of string. As I grew older I ventured into even more. In college I studied art and loved learning new techniques and new ideas to be more creative. I love camping too. I moved to Arizona to work at Anasazi Foundation which is a wilderness survival treatment program for youth. This is where I learned not only to help youth to see and hopefully find the right path in life, but to grow myself in new amazing ways. I also learned a lot more about primitive survival and crafts as a way of life along with leather working, pottery, bow making, flint napping, and survival.

When I got married to my beautiful wife I moved into jewelry making. I have never looked back. It’s fun and creative. I now design in CAD software where I’m allowed to be free to create anything and have it made into reality. I would love to turn my hobbies into a business, but I have never really had the time to make that work out. Lots of these crafts take up so much time that they really are not valued as they should be.

I have been making jewelry for over 20 years and still love it. For years I’ve wanted to make an about video to explain about me and my business. I’ve always wanted it to be more than just jewelry as I love so many crafts. I hope to share some of what I like and for you to get to know what I like. This way you might be able to understand me better as an artist. I did not include everything, but hopefully it captures a little something interesting about me. Enjoy!

Get to know me - Dana Arts

I love being an artist. Coming up with new ideas and seeing how they turn out. Sometimes they are cool and other times they should be thrown away. Either way it's just fun developing ideas. Well a job can kinda ruin that. Maybe not all jobs, but some can. For example you actually can't design anything because the customer is the one designing it (or a sales person). In the end you have to make it they way they like it and it's still art, but for me sometimes that kills creativeness. Yes it can also bring about better ideas and development so don't get me wrong. Lately I just feel that at my day job I can't be an artist. I do as they say like a robot. Yes I get to build jewelry, but not how I want to or how I think it should be. It's always how everyone else wants it to be. So would I be considered a designer? Not in my opinion. I feel I can only truly be a designer when I have the freedom to put my thoughts into a new design. Otherwise it's like an assembly line to me. This is why I love DanaArts. I am able to freely create anything I want without someone telling me what I need to do or how to do it. That is what it's all about for me. That's why I keep on going and keep on pushing forward even when no one knows who or what DanaArts does. I will continue on forever creating what I enjoy doing. It's what keeps me going and pushing on in new ways. If you are feeling the Artist Shove Down then take a break and do something creative. It will inspire you to create beautiful things.

The feeling when being shoved down and you have to shine to overcome it.