It’s said that art reflects life, and life reflects art. This statement is not only true for the world and our culture, but for the individual artist. Dawn Whitney-Hall has been painting for almost thirty years. This part of her path finds her mission to explore the unconscious through the evolution of image making.
Dawn’s education took her through El Camino College, College of the Desert and CSULB. The greatest part of those experiences being the mentors she learned from.
After a time co-owning Tessworks Ceramics in Newport beach, a mural career quickly evolved when asked to paint a friend’s wall. Starting with baby rooms and such, then moving up to several large and visible projects such as Hermosa Beach Centennial Mural, and the 1500 sq foot homage to the history of dry cleaning on the famous Milt and Edie’s Dry Cleaning Plant in Burbank.
Although the commercial nature of murals paid the bills through the raising of three children, Dawn always explored the subconscious through her paintings.
Often colorful, with a favorite subject matter being animals, totems and shamanism, the images continue to evolve into the more dream-like and abstract.
Dawn has also found herself teaching in several different environments. It is those experiences that have also informed her perspective on the image making , as well as allowing her to be of service. “In teaching others to paint, you’re really teaching them how to see”.
It’s this sight that the artist needs to distill what happens in their sphere of consciousness and give it to others.
“Images can be the catalyst to the changing of paradigms and I’m blessed to have some knowledge and experience to collaborate with my patrons to facilitate that kind of history”.
