LP_021617

creative chat
Question and answer with Lockport ???
creative chat
lockportlegend.com life & arts
the Lockport Legend | February 16, 2017 | 29
Question and answer with Lockport ???
creative chat
Question and answer with Lockport ???
Getting to know Dana Buxbaum
creative chat
Question and answer with Lockport ???
Buxbaum is a
member of The
Artist Guild of
Lockport
What media
do you work Buxbaum
with the
most?
It kind of varies. I do a lot
of — for the fine art — I do
acrylic and I actually started
using tea and coffee on watercolor
paper. It’s usually
either acrylics or the tea and
coffee paintings. And then, I
also make dreamcatchers for
craft shows and take orders
for those. It’s kind of all over
the place.
How did you get into art?
My mom is a very creative
person. For my birthday parties
and such, she always
had crafts and stuff going. I
think a lot of it was from her.
How did you start doing
such a variety of art?
I’ve always been more
crafty than artistic, so the
paintings are really more of
a new thing for me. I want to
start trying new mediums. I
tried a little bit of water color,
I tried to do pottery once
but it did not work out well.
I’ve always been more crafty
than anything. Someone I
used to be really close with
was really into painting, so
we would have paint nights,
and I would just paint really
terrible things, not good at
all. So, I just wanted to try
to do that more and focus on
that a little bit and try and get
that a little better.
Do you do other crafts
besides dreamcatchers?
The dreamcatchers are the
focus, [but] there’s also... I
get the wood picture frames
and I’ll decorate those and
sell those at craft shows too,
but it’s mostly the dream
catchers.
How did the idea of using
tea and coffee in your
painting come about?
It was inspired by one of
the other artist guild members,
Kate Doser. She was
posting her tea paintings,
and I always thought it was
really cool, but they were always
brown tone. One day, I
was drinking a pomegranate
green tea and it stained my
napkin and the paper it was
on, and I was like “I wonder
about the colored teas, how
would that work?” So, for
the Rhythm and Hues show
with the artist guild, I chose
“The Java Jive” by the Ink
Spots for my song inspiration,
and I painted that with
two different strengths of
coffee and six different
types of tea to get the different
colors and blends in
there.
Do you have any hobbies
other than art?
I dance. I’m really into
blues and swing fusion,
which is when you take traditional
styles of dance like
swing and salsa and combine
it with nontraditional music
that you wouldn’t really
dance those styles to.
Are there any other local
artists who you admire?
There’s so many. I really
enjoy Mary Ehrler’s work.
Her art reflects her personality;
it’s very vibrant and exciting.
And then Kate Doser
inspired me with the tea and
her style is really cool, I love
her ink drawings. Amanda
Grabenhofer’s photography
is just stunning. I always
like the different things that
she does. Sometimes she’ll
do a landscape or focus on
people, but then she’s been
working a lot with photographing
metals and that was
amazing.
What is the hardest part of
art for you?
Subject matter. I always
have a hard time coming up
with an idea, which is why I
really like the themed shows
the artist guild does, because
it really gives me something
to focus on. Otherwise, it’s
just constant “What do I
draw? What do I paint?” I
have a really hard time finding
something to focus on if
there’s no theme or requirement.
Where do you usually get
your inspiration for your
subject matter?
It varies, with the painting
a lot of it comes from the
theme [of the shows]. Like
with the next show coming
up, Fables, Folklore and
Fairytales, I did a lot of digging
into the grim fairytales.
I read a whole anthology of
grim fairytales retellings,
so I get a lot of it from that.
And with my dreamcatchers,
I prefer doing orders because
then the person ordering the
dreamcatcher gives me a
concept.
What are your future goals
for your art?
To sell it. It’s always nice
when people want what I
create. That’s how I got into
dreamcatchers, I did one for
a charity event with Soderworld
Wellness, and somebody
liked my dreamcatcher
and bought it. I was like
“What, people are going to
buy these things? Cool!”
Why did you initially decide
to stick with art?
I have a lot of creative and
artistic friends, and having
the creativity around me has
driven me to try and be more
creative.
What is your favorite part
of art?
The finished product —
usually. Everyone is their
own worst critic, but my favorite
part of it is seeing it
done, up on the wall. When
people will buy my art or my
dreamcatcher, I love having
them send me a picture of
it up in there home, in their
room, in their car whatever.
I like seeing it out there, it’s
really cool.
What is your favorite piece
you’ve made?
The “Java Jive” coffee and
tea one is a favorite, Amanda
Grabenhofer actually bought
Dana Buxbaum often works with acrylic paint; this is one of
her favorite paintings she has done. Photo submitted
that one. I did a mixed media
piece, it was a “Dark Side of
the Moon” album cover with
acrylics, melted crayons and
a broken cd. That one was a
lot of fun. There were a couple
more silhouette paintings
that I did...A girl on a swing
with the moon in the tree.
Interview by Editor Max Lapthorne
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2/9/17 9:31 9:30 AM