From
jewelry to those clear sparkly earrings mom used to wear, and
don’t
forget the colorful glass ornamentation in everybody's front
windows. Remember how it was fashionable to fill up a brandy
decanter with water and a one or two drops of your favorite food
coloring? ~Sigh~ Oh those clear glistening colors that came in
when the sun hit them!
Dana’s love for jewelry and sparkly things hit her in a
big way back in the 70's.... growing up while observing the mothers
of all her friends wearing their frosted lipstick and eye shadows
while sporting those great big fireball glass rings...you know
the rings...They were glowing with magnificent violets, purples,
blues and greens as they hit the different angles of light. Talking
to Dana Tara about her longing for glass since childhood, one would almost be
right back in the moment with her as she ponders off momentarily;
“I coveted a fireball ring I had gotten for
a donation for a neighborhood carnival we as kids put on
one summer weekend. I secretly put in 5.00 (a lot for a kid at
9 years old) to pay for what was supposed to be a donated prize
in the bean bag toss. I loved that ring...even if I had chewed
and bent the shank to fit my small hand as it was entirely way
too big......
Don't know whatever became
of that ring, but I know that whenever I make my pieces, it's
a major influence in the style and color/s that have branded
themselves into my soul. Dichroic glass is a huge factor that
backs up my "need" to
set an eye gazing impact on whatever I "birth".
Though Dana Tara was never happy in any of
the jobs she held for a living as they didn't quite capture
the creativity she searched for when it came to color,
she hoped for working with her element of fire and continued
to press on.
“I went from hairdressing
to make-up artist then took a sharp turn to exploring the
nursing field, and then finally, to a culinary arts chef
when I then broke into management." All were
a decent living, however, something was missing from her
path to “create". "I
felt this nagging calling to produce beauty and happiness
in SOME way and wanted to incorporate my love for fire
onto my path in healing others as well"..... She's
doing all of this and more in her talent for bringing other
women together..... After the passing of her mother, Virginia
L. Vitkow in 1999, her need to spiritually survive was
taken over by painting and getting out the canvas for awhile.
Upon suffering another loss, the last chance to have a
child in
2001, she then reverted back to her childhood days of remembering those shiny
glistening objects that she remembers gazing at, and so returned to glass -
her first love. |
Finished Glass Bead
|
“It's been one long journey and I wouldn't
change a thing.... not one thing as it has all led me here to
do what I KNOW I'm supposed to be doing - creating and nurturing
others through my art/s and love for color and the influence
it has on all of us. I don't know what's next in my path, but
one thing I DO know and that is we are all connected through
the expression of creation and color. I hear the Universe when
I’m in my element....loud and clear.” It is truly
the language of creation itself.
Dana M. Vitkow-Haan
Owner of ~TeaCups~ The Seed of Self Concept & Arts for Women
Seed : Spectrum Path Glass |
