The Gallery ABQ
Albuquerque Contemporary Fine Art
Dana Millen - Acrylic
Biography
Dana Millen, Ph.D., MPH has been trained in Public Health (Master of Public Health) and with a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is an activist, feminist, social justice reformer, and artist.
Her work represents a post -impressionistic style of painting while also embracing the abstract. The use of color to feel emotion and connect with people is vital to the works that Dana creates.
A New Mexico resident for 27 years, Dana draws inspiration from the natural beauty and people that surround her. Growing up in Ghana and Colombia, along with later worldwide travel to Mexico, Greece, Canada and Alaska, have also led to key shaping of her creative process.
Primary among the artists who have influenced Dana’s art is Emily Carr, one of Canada’s most celebrated and revolutionary artists. Dana has also gratefully been influenced by Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Helen Frankenthaler, Judy Chicago, and her teacher and art coach – Travis Bruce Black.
Artist Statement
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I paint because I view art as revolution – as resistance to despair in these desperate and changing times. I paint as a way to honor the earth and the beauty of our world – in the midst of sadness – and to make it whole. I paint to perform acts of justice, to engage in “Tikkun Olam” – healing of the world.
We as artists, as Russian poet Alexander Blok states, “beg the world to come our way”. He also observes that … “creativity of the artist is also that of the social reformer”. My Russian and Romanian soul begs a new world to be born – a new world to come our way. Art can and does connect people to make us whole, if we dare to see the possibilities of what can be.
My current medium is acrylic paint and oil markers, using brush and pallet knives to place paint on canvas.
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