Dani Dodge saw the devastation of landscapes and the degradation of humanity as an embedded reporter with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. After she returned to the states, she found her primary medium, words, weren't enough.
She turned to art.
Dani started in watercolor but now often works in layers — acrylic paint over crayon and ink drawings over spray-painted poetry over collaged ephemera such as maps — to express the complexity of her primary subject — the searching soul. She is drawn to the human form, its structure, elegance and inability to hide meaning. Her works often depict a solitary female figure, painted in a raw, textural manner that challenges viewers to find the story in their own hearts.
Since 2004, Dani has sought out master artists and teachers to help her develop the drawing, painting and composing skills she needed to tell her stories without words. She learned in workshops and by following her gut outside the boundaries of tradition. Her paintings have been widely recognized and celebrated for their unique perspective. Her work has been included in international, national and regional juried shows.
In 2009 alone, she won 15 awards including a Best of Show in the Bonita Museum’s annual fine art exhibit, a People’s Choice Award at the San Diego County Fair, two first-place awards and three second-place awards around the county.
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.