On Stands Now

Read my essay "Ode to Horse Days"

 

Dana Lise Shavin
I am originally from Atlanta, but after graduate school (MS clinical psychology, 1986) I moved to the north Georgia mountains where I live with my husband, photographer Daryl Thetford, and our three dogs, Shark, Bella, and Brie.
My art career began in 1993 when I resolved to make some important changes in my life.  I left my job as a psychological examiner, quit an eighteen year smoking habit, rekindled a love of painting, and started writing for a local arts and entertainment newspaper. Very quickly I began applying to art shows and submitting essays and columns to literary journals, magazines, and newspapers.

 

Today I make my living as a full time artist. I sell through galleries, art shows (see show  schedule), and do commission work (dog and people portraits). In addition I am a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press newspaper, and my essays have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals including  Oxford American, The Sun, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fourth Genre, Third Coast, Skirt Magazine, and other publications (see "The Writing Life").

 

My studio is at 14 1/2 Frazier Ave. in North Chattanooga, and while I am always happy to have visitors, it is best to call first (423)240-4284. I am also always happy to discuss a painting, a portrait, or a potential writing assignment. You can email me at danalise@juno.com.

Listen to an interview with Dana and Daryl

News From the Studio: $200 from Annie's fund has been donated to Dogpatch Ranch in Auburn, AL. My essay "Home on the Hills" appears in Oxford American's special food issue, and my essay "Imagine a Baby Now" was selected for the anthology Blank Begins at Conception.  Stay tuned for the publication date.   A Better House: Late last summer, I was invited to exhibit my work at the Chattanooga Jewish Cultural Center, a nonprofit center whose mission, in part, is to showcase both secular and nonsecular arts and culture. Shortly after I was invited to show, I was driving home from a writers conference, and made a side trip to photograph a house I'd lived in, in North Augusta, SC. For five years I have been working on a book about places I have lived, called A Better House, the story of finding home/finding self. Suddenly I realized I'd hit on my exhibit: photos of the five houses I was writing about, printed on acetate (transparency paper) and laid over a mixed media support, accompanied by selected excerpts from the manuscript. Thus the exhibit, A Better House, was born.