Biography

Born in 1979, Dayna grew up spending all of her summers at her Grandparents cottage in Bala, Muskoka. The landscape and beauty of Muskoka captured Dayna's imagination, and as a little girl her mind was made up that she would live in Muskoka when she "grew up".

Dayna attended Huron Heights Secondary School in Newmarket, Ontario, a high school dedicated to training students in the visual and performing arts. After studying in a variety of mediums including photography, graphic design, pottery and printmaking, Dayna decided to further her study in drawing and painting.

Dayna graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2003, with a non major in fine arts. She focused her study on figurative drawing and painting.
After graduating from OCAD, Dayna moved to the village of Vankoughnet in Muskoka with her husband, where they built their own straw bale home and studio. Dayna gave birth to her first child in June 2008, and her second in December of 2010.

In spring 2010, Dayna exhibited her first painting since leaving OCAD, in the Muskoka Arts and Crafts Annual Spring Members Show. "Bianca and Ruby" won the Award of Excellence in portraiture. In 2011, Dayna’s painting “Catnap” won the Muskoka Arts and Crafts award for Best Animal Painting.

Dayna exhibited her work for the first time in 2010 at the Muskoka Arts and Crafts' 48th Annual Summer Show, a juried outdoor arts and crafts show, and exhibited again in 2011. She was featured in the July 2010 edition of the Muskokan, and the October edition of the Muskoka Magazine.

Dayna was recently accepted for her first solo exhibition, which will be taking place from November 26th to December 15th, 2011, at the Chapel Gallery in Bracebridge. You can also find her work at the Bohemian Gallery in Bracebridge.

Dayna works mainly in oils, charcoal, and ink. Commissions for portraits of people, pets, or buildings are welcome. Please contact her to discuss your ideas, or with any other questions.

 

Artist Statement

After graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2003, where I studied drawing and painting, I took a break from my artwork to build a home and start a family. I have now returned to painting in order to begin my career as an artist.

Working mainly in oils, I focus on portraiture and figurative work. I have been working on a series of portraits of my friends and family, experimenting with technique, lighting, and composition.
These painting comprise the first body of work I have completed since leaving college 7 years ago. They represent the journey I have taken to re-immerse myself in my art.

I am continuing this body of work with a gallery showing. I intend to produce larger compositions, with group settings. I would further explore emotion through my subject’s expression. I would attempt to capture what I feel is my subject’s personality through their portraits.
The more I paint and immerse myself in my art, the more I am discovering about myself and how I relate to my work. My inhibitions, my fear of judgement, and my desire to move past these issues to produce the quality of work and expression in painting I know I am capable of.

These paintings represent not only my attempt to begin painting professionally, but also my attempt to break through my boundaries in order to have my subjects break through theirs.

My upcoming exhibition, titled “It’s All Who You Know” will feature a variety of works from the past year and a half. These works are portraits and studies of my friends, and my family. They are subjects with whom I hold a personal connection with, whom I know.
Throughout the past year and a half of creating and displaying these works, I have found that there is something unique about creating portraits in a small community. Many people who view the works also have a connection to the person in the painting. Though I may never have met the viewer, they have met my subject, and hold a personal connection to them. It may be a friend, an acquaintance, or a family member.

I have kept that in mind as I have worked, to not only attempt to create an accurate depiction of my subject’s features, but to attempt to capture a bit of their personality. To view the subject not only through my eyes, but through others as well.

 

Education

-AOCAD 2003 Ontario College of Art and Design
-OSSD Honours 1998 Huron Heights Secondary School for the Arts

Awards
-2011 Award of Excellence in Animal Painting, Muskoka Arts and Crafts Spring Members Show
-2010 Award of Excellence in Portraiture, Muskoka Arts and Crafts Annual Spring Members Show

Exhibitions
-2011 “It’s All Who You Know” Solo Exhibition, Chapel Gallery, Bracebridge, ON
-2011 Charity Portrait Event with MP Tony Clement, Bohemian Gallery, Bracebridge, ON
-2011 Muskoka Arts and Crafts 49th Annual Summer Show, Bracebridge, ON
-2011 Muskoka Arts and Crafts Annual Spring Member’s Show, Bracebridge, ON
-2010 Muskoka Arts and Crafts 48th Summer Show, Annual juried show, Bracebridge, ON
-2010 Art in the Heart, Juried Show and Sale, Bracebridge, ON
-2010 Muskoka Arts and Crafts Annual Spring Member’s Show, Bracebridge, ON
-2010 Night Light, Chapel Gallery, Bracebridge, ON

Commissions
-2011 Private portrait commission “Allison”
-2011 Private portrait commission “Oliver”
-2011 The Griffin Gastro Pub, illustration
-2011 Seppa Design, illustration
-2011 Private pet commission
-2010 Private portrait commission, “Henry”
-2010 Private portrait commission, “Coleen”
-2010 Seppa Design, illustration
-2010 Private commission, family pet portrait

Gallery Representation
-The Bohemian Gallery, Bracebridge, ON