Site updated Aug. 20, 2008, with a new painting, "Surviving Manzanar."

Current art shows

Long Beach Arts Works on Paper Exhibition, "Evolving." Through Sept. 19. The gallery's new location (as of Aug. 16) is 4332 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, Calif., noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, (562) 490-9922. Map

11th Annual Henry Fukuhara Workshop Exhibition at APC Fine Arts & Graphics Gallery, "Surviving Manzanar." Through Sept. 13. The gallery is at 1621 Cabrillo Ave., Torrance, Calif., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, (310) 328-0366. Map

Carlsbad-Oceanside Art League 58th Annual Open Juried Fine Arts Award Show, "Reeling in Red" (first-place winner, mixed media), "Step Boldly, White Kitten" and "Pensive in Pink." Through Sept. 7. The COAL gallery is in the Village Faire Shopping Centre, 300 Carlsbad Village Drive, Suite 101, Carlsbad, Calif., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, (760) 434-8497. Map

San Diego Watercolor Society August membership show, with the theme "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight": "Love No. 1" (named Best Theme Painting). The society's Showcase Gallery is in the NTC Promenade at Point Loma's Liberty Station, 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 105, San Diego, Calif., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, (619) 338-0502. Map

Going international

Dani's painting "Armed Resistance" has been accepted for the 2008 International Show at the San Diego Watercolor Society, Oct. 1-31.

Artist's statement

As a journalist, Dani Dodge sees the devastation of landscapes and the degradation of humanity. After covering the war in Iraq, she found words weren't enough.

She turned to art.

She started in watercolor but now allows her subject to dictate the media. Her primary tools are value and shape, but it is with color that she best communicates. She is drawn to the human form, its structure, elegance and inability to hide meaning.

Her work hearkens back to the Bay Area abstract figurative movement, but she uses softer nuances to reveal the strong emotions that force her to paint.

Her work explores the beautiful in the tragic, the remarkable in the mundane, the feeling within the form.

She seeks to see beyond objects and objectivity. To find the elusive truth of the human soul by painting outside the lines.

Paintings are for sale unless marked otherwise. E-mail Dani for prices.

Previous art shows