My Art Journey… Continued

Not so long ago, I began to share my art journey. Today, I thought I’d continue to share my foray into the art world, as it returned me to a state of hopefulness that my illness had taken away.

By the middle of 2019, I had begun to connect the dots in my life and soon, things that I hadn’t even thought to imagine, began to appear.

I was diligently painting four works at a time, using one paintbrush between the canvases, amusing myself to see how many strokes I could get before the paint dried, because I didn’t want to waste a drop of paint.

Suddenly there weren’t enough walls in my house to hang all of the paintings. A fact that wasn’t wasted on my husband Ben, when we sold our home and had to lease a separate storage unit for my paintings.

By early 2020, I still wasn’t calling myself an artist. For me, that was a title reserved for people who made art all their lives, they attended art school and had a career in art. I did not. I was simply put, a techie and a writer.

A status that was confirmed by my presence on social media, where my handle was “Technygal” with posts and tweets about innovative technology and the impact it was having in the hyper-linked global community. I wrote a blog with supplemental articles and was earning income, gaining followers and recognition as a tech writer.

But then life happened, as it always does and inevitably, everything changes, regardless of whether we’re ready for it or not. For me, the change was significant, absolute and permanent. And I had to innovate how I would go about telling the stories that I could no longer write.

In 2019, I reluctantly changed my social media handles from Technygal to my name, DaNice D Marshall. It was a difficult first step, this letting go of my old self.

Some people live to eat, while others eat to live. There’s a balance and a purposefulness knowing the difference. For me, painting was like that, as I began painting to live, each brushstroke freed me from stress.

I started to share my art with the world via social media. I repurposed my blog, pivoting away from tech and started posting my paintings on Instagram and on Twitter.

I approached an art gallerist in New York, who upon hearing that I had no art training, told me my art would never be seen. My goals changed and his rejection fueled my trajectory. Here’s that timeline:

2020– Piano Craft Gallery, Boston exhibits “Betty’s Lil’ Director” and “She Named Her Daughter Hope”

2021– Billboard Hope selects my work “Free Knowledge Must Bring Your Own Container” for a solo billboard exhibition in Boston and and names me “Breakout Artist”.

2021 – Forbidden Fruit “I Like Your Work”exhibition curated by Hilary Doyle at Piano Craft Gallery, Boston. My work “Ameryca’s Two Sons” has a showing.

2021 – Crop of Kismet “I Like Your Work” winter exhibition curated by Will Hutnick online exhibition. Three of my works are invited, “She’s Arriving Right On Time”, “Storm’s Coming” and “Winning”

2021 – Self-Made Genius exhibition at The Contemporary at Northern Waters Gallery in Michigan. My work “She’s Arriving. Right On Time” has a showing.

2021 – NY Crit Club, I apply for and am accepted into my first art critique class. It’s an amazing experience! I get to meet art teachers, gallerists and artists. They accept me without any art training! It’s here that I acknowledge that I am indeed, an artist.

2021 – Naomi. I’m approached by a art director for a new television show. She’s seen and likes my posts on Instagram and wants to use one of my paintings for a new television show. Later, that number is increased to fourteen.

2021 – A Perfect Moment. Cultural Center Cape Cod has a online exhibition and my painting “Winning” actually wins third place and a cash prize 🙂

2022- Naomi. S1 Episode 4- Enigma. Fourteen of my paintings were featured in the opening scenes of my solo exhibition on the television show Naomi. The titles of my work: “A Cautionary Tale”, “Betty’s Lil’ Director”, “My Three Sons”, “The Empty Nesters”, “Getting Her Hair Did”, “Her Melting Pot”, “Ameryca’s Two Sons”, “DJ On & On” , “Chess Moves”, “Queen in Rollers”, “The Dreamer”, “The Latter. Snail Mail”, “She Pretends. Making Negative Spaces Into Positive” and “What She Thought She Heard”.

2022- Art As Salve exhibition curated by Ashleigh Dior Coren at New Art Corridor Gallery. My work “Ameryca’s Two Sons” has a showing. This unique gallery is opened 24-7. So everyone can visit at any time.

2022 – Orange Barrel Media is showing my painting “Moment Lost” on a digital billboard at Downtown Crossing in Boston.

Next month my painting “She Pretends. Making Negative Space Into Positive” will be exhibited in the curated Negatives exhibition in St. Louis. Then in the summer, my work “A Cautionary Tale” will be showing in the Hue exhibition at Msanii Hous in Carrollton, Texas.

I’ve been fortunate to have my work sell in Scotland, and here in the United States. Purchase inquiries of my showing works can be made via email: danicedmarshall@gmail.com