Life floods
Rivers appear to take over yet keep moving
Eddies stir in us…. absorbing the darkness
Breath intervenes
A crack is found
Light comes through carving space
Veins imbued with hope, fill with love
Light and darkness marinate
tremble……. shake ………. stir
Shed
Strength brings forth
a beam
Light turns into tangible threads
I weave these threads
- Dana Lynn Louis
This exhibition was in process for two years and is a combination of my work abroad at Thread, an artist’s residency in Senegal, West Africa, and Gather:Make:Shelter, a citywide creative collaborative in Portland, OR. Both projects aim to enrich the lives of those in their community through creative practice and artistic pursuits with a focus on collaboration, engagement, skill-building, and connection. All of this work is related as I weave together life and work, which is a direct response to the energetic ties between all of us, thus lessening the miles between us conceptually and physically. It is increasingly important to me that all of my work, no matter its form, moves towards light, weaving us together and creating levity and beauty along the way.
Selected images from a solo exhibition at Friesen Gallery.
Curator Courtney Gilbert invited me to create two site specific installations at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts as part of the Contemplative Practice Exhibition 2017. Included in this exhibition was the second incarnation of the envelope project (first was at the Hoffman Gallery in Portland, Oregon) which solicited things participants wanted to clear. During a ceremony at the exhibition the envelopes were burned and the mica circle remnants remained as a collective memory of everyone’s intentions for clarity both personally and globally.
A site-specific installation for the San Juan Islands Museum of Art. Several components composed the installation including a temporary painting on the entire glass “skin" of the atrium in which I wrapped the building in hundreds of prayer beads. Indicative of the contemplative practices of many cultures worldwide these particular images were intended to be a prayer for the health of the Salish Sea that surrounds the islands.
A 365-day diaristic project that began and finished on the Autumnal Equinox. The project combines photographs taken daily with an additional layer of drawing embedded in the photographs using a simple digital drawing tablet. These drawings are the physical manifestation of the energy I felt in each place. As the year progressed the project's focus became one of my intimate collaboration with nature. This is a project I am interested in continuing to explore while in residence in other locations.
As one of eight artists in the 2016 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards exhibition at the Portland Art Museum I created three site-specific installations: Oscillation, Clearing, and Filament.
This project is dedicated to the women of Sinthian, Senegal, where I created this work in an artist residency at Thread, a project of the Joseph and Anni Albers Foundation. The project consists of two dresses and videos of the women working and children dancing. With La Grande Robe, my intention is for people around the world to see this installation and appreciate these powerful, beautiful, creative women; their work; and primarily, their humanity, which comes forward in all of their encounters and activities.
The Portland Winter Light Festival is an annual event of the Willamette Light Brigade, a non-profit arts organization. The festival is presented to the public for free, and builds community by bringing art and technology to inclusive audiences while invigorating Portland in the winter.
A mixed media installation of digitally embedded photography as well as mixed media sculpture, which is based in acts of drawing and seeks to transport viewers to new mental and physical landscapes as they move amongst the work.
A multimedia installation for a Tri-Met light rail station inspired by the renovation of a stream bed nearby where salmon have returned. Viewers encounter different art interventions at day and night as well as seasonal changes.
A full building tattoo, glass doors and windows.
One Person Exhibition at The Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College, Portland Oregon A Multidisciplinary exhibit that focused on the topic of clearing. Several events were participatory and engaged…
“Clearing” is a broad topic and can be taken as intimately as clearing the body of a cold or something more serious, to our own relationships, to the things that…
CLEARING 2014 One Person Exhibition at The Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College, Portland Oregon A 24 min video of moving clouds captured over an 8-month period as Louis…
Hopes and Dreams-2014 Oregon State Hospital Junction City Oregon 30’x10’ glass etched entry wall of the hospital Wall of words arrived at through a series of workshops held with the…
WISH-2014 7’x7’x8’ cast aluminum and blown glass, fiber optic lighting Oregon State Hospital Junction City, Oregon Sculpture indicative of a "wish" that hangs in the same room as the glass…
Whisper, 2010 paper,mirrors,paint ink,steel,glass 20’ x 20’ x 20’ Installation entitled Whisper . Viewers are literally intergrated into the room of drawing and shadows incorporating hanging mobiles, and over 100…
A Delicate Wandering, 2009 glass,mica steel,bells,wood,paint,mirrors 14’ x 8’ x 8’ The mobile and painted mirror installation, alludes to the energy of the students at the college and their path…
Faith: Suspended, One person exhibition at The Art Gym, Marylhurst University,Oregon 2007 glass,beads,rice paper,sumi ink,mica,oil drawings,wire 22’ x 45’ x 45’ This installation integrates drawing and sculptural work that suggests…
Carton Service Project, 2007 Mixed media in an old Cardboard Company Warehouse 60’ x 60’ x 60’ Description: Performance in which I instigated a collaboration with choreographers Daniel Addy,Linda K.Johnson, And…
Nocturnal Notations, 2008 Mixed media 16’ x 40’ x 50’ I spent a month at the South Waterfront Development during construction in Portland Oregon building an installation with light, sculpture…
Unification, City of Portland Mural at Yoga Union, 2007 painted mural 10’ x 47’ Outdoor painted mural at Yoga Union for the City of Portland outdoor mural project
The Color of Breath, MaryBridge Children's Hospital, 2005 kiln-formed glass 30’ x 90’ x 3" This curtain-wall facade is an optical interpretation of the manufacturing and renewal of cellular matter.…
Suspended Migration, Portland Oregon City Hall Atrium, 2005 glass,beads,mica,velvet,oil drawings,sculptural wire forms 62’ x 27’ x 27’ The four-story multi-media installation is a visual poem that alludes to transformation, life,…
Essence of Our Nature, Portland Oregon Convention Center - 2003 Cast glass sculpture and painted ceramic tiles 2 complete restrooms Bottles encased in illuminated niches in the wall are part…
Metabolic Shift, 2002 Cast glass and Steel 10’ x 30’ x 3 Cast glass and steel wall for The Street Car Loft Development in Portland Oregon.
PROPAGATION, College Housing Northwest, Portland Oregon, 1999 Bronze,water, ceramic, concrete 12’ x 7’ x 7’ This fountain is at the entrance of a student housing center and references the life…