Donnalee Dunne

I am a painter. I create illusions, moods, and atmospheres. I use traditional materials of canvas, oils, and fiber, but do not always work in traditional methods. I also use the current technology in much the same manner that other technologies before it have been used by artists. The artist has always worked within the capabilities of the medium and adapted to the way the medium works.

I had the opportunity in 2003 to exhibit in the Florence Biennale in Italy. I was working at the time both in oil on canvas and mixed media constructed pieces. For nearly twenty years, I have been a digital artist as well, often scanning paintings and photographs into the computer, which are then born anew as cyber art of the Third Millennium. I had also, for a few years, painted portraits of children in watercolor on fabrics. Wanting something new and exciting for the Florence exhibition, I experimented printing on fabric from my computer. There was no easy-to-find paper-backed fabrics than as we find so readily today. So I would put the material on paper myself and just play with it to see what would happen. As the time approached to print for the show I knew I wanted to do it on silk. I found the Jacquard company online and ordered my first silk straight from them.

Then I found Dharma!! That was one of the most exciting opportunities I've had for a long time. Once I had success printing on silk (I use 8 and 16mm Habotai mainly), I thought I might like to try painting on silk. I was scheduled for a solo exhibition in the fall of 2004 at University of California, Merced, outreach center in Fresno. I figured that since I had painted in watercolor on both cotton and rayon, I'd like to try the silk paints on silk.

After a bit of trial and error, I found a technique that worked with my style of painting and had several silk paintings in the UC show, as well as several computer prints on silk.

Currently I have quite a collection of Dharma's Marabu and DynaFlow colors, along with others I've picked up along the way to try out. Always experimenting, I find I am mainly using watercolor techniques of both wet on wet and dry brush to achieve lovely washes and minute detail without the use of resist of any kind.

I will steam set if the final result is to be a wearable, but mostly my work is turned into wall hangings or constructed art pieces.

My latest solo exhibition, January 2006 at Gallery 25 in Fresno, California, was exclusively done in Dharma products! I received rave reviews and comments for the nearly 12 foot high hand painted silks hanging from the ceiling, as well as five of the good luck flags from Bali on stands about the room.

My work centers on the forms, the structures, the essence of Earth itself, and the culture upon its surface. It is about perception of environment and place, and how opinion alters when understanding perceptions of others.

I teach computer art, photography and mural painting at California State University, Fresno, and in the community colleges locally. More silk paintings can be seen at my domain, http://www.digitalsilk.us, and my main site, http://www.donnaleedunne.com.