a Fargo-Moorhead visual artist
A self-taught, outsider artist with a liberal arts educational background, Deanna Dahlsad began her professional art career primarily as a charcoal artist, selling at juried art shows and various New Age markets.
The daughter of antique dealers, Ms. Dahlsad is a collector and finds herself most inspired by worn and salvaged pieces with Velveteen Rabbit Syndrome, i.e., those things that show that love not only makes one real but leaves signs of wear as well. She followed in her parents’ footsteps, but soon found herself saddened that so many collectors view less-than-perfect old things as garbage. As a domestic violence survivor, she believes damage doesn’t equal trash. As the mother of children with special needs, she knows the beauty of being different. As an empath, she feels the pain of being tossed aside. Past lives are important. Imperfections are indeed charming. She is compelled to salvage things, people, and herself.
Working with rescued and found items inspires stories – not all of which are bright & breezy. However, even when works are not dark, her more traditional themes are… quirky.
In addition to the vintage materials themselves, Deanna also likes to breathe new life into older art forms and practices themselves. A favorite is the art of potichomania, a mid-19th-century crafting craze involving painting and decoupaging on the reverse side of glass.
Dahlsad primarily makes 3D mixed media works and assemblages. Most works feature found or salvaged objects combined with animal skulls, doll parts and assorted bits & bobs. She also makes junk journals, other paper works, and some wearable art, aka jewelry.
For decades, she was a paid writer; but now tell stories visually without words. Maybe the stories aren’t as precise now, but she believes it’s in those blank open spaces that others find messages that resonate with them. That’s magical.
Her works can be found at LunaTique Boutique, her own antiques, oddities, occult, and vintage shop in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. The address is 612 First Avenue N. Enter at First Avenue Market.
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