Dana Finimore has been accepted to the Arkansas Craft Guild as a metalsmith and jeweler. Her process shown here uses molten sterling silver to form shapes and impress patterns into the metal. Her pendants, bracelets and earrings in sterling silver, copper and bronze will soon be available in the Arkansas Craft Gallery, 104 E. Main, Mountain View.
Finimore’s work as an artist is multi-disciplinary. She works in small metals, mixed media painting, and also sculpture. Finimore maintains a busy schedule, showing her work at both group and solo events. Finimore holds a BFA in Painting and an MFA in Studio Art from Memphis College of Art.
"In my studio, I heat, hammer, form, and fabricate, manipulating the metal into shapes and textures inspired by wild things, a twig, a feather, the wind blowing across water, or the lichen growing on a stone. There is no shortage of ideas when nature is your muse.” Crediting her inspiration to growing up in Stone County, she says, “Early years spent on the creek banks and meadows of the Ozark Mountains has gifted me with a reverence for the natural beauty of Arkansas. I find clarity of spirit outdoors.”
In 2002 along with her husband Richard, she founded, directed and published DeSoto Magazine, a regional monthly magazine in Hernando, MS. Dana also owned and managed the Tin Roof Market & Gallery in Hernando from 2010-15 which organized Art Walks and shows.
Finimore continued her art education at Arrowmont, Gatlinburg, TN, and the Memphis College of Art, where she earned her MFA in Studio Art with a Presidential Honors Award. She became teaching assistant there as well as managed the 477 Gallery at the Nesin Graduate School of Art. She later became a full-time art instructor at NW Mississippi Community College, and gallery coordinator.
Finimore exhibits her work consistently, most recently at the Marie Hull Gallery at Hinds Community College in Jackson, MS, the Shainberg Gallery, and Cutler Crane Gallery in Memphis, TN, and the NWCC Art Gallery in Senatobia, MS, and Pacesetter Gallery in Flowood, MS.
She is a workshop instructor at Eureka Springs School of Art, Eureka Springs, Ar, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL, and an adjunct professor at Christian Brothers University, Memphis, and East Arkansas Community College, Forest City. She taught small metals, at the Arkansas Craft School. Her own continuing education in the arts includes the Azule Arts Retreat, in 2016 at Hot Springs, NC and the Santa Fe Artist Retreat last year.
Dana has jewelry currently at Urban Forge, Mountain View. She will be showing her paintings and jewelry, welcoming visitors during Off the Beaten Path Studio Tour, Sept. 15, 16, and 17, 2023. Maps will be available as the date approaches. She also will be represented at the Sandy Hubler Fine Art Showroom in Little Rock. "“I seek to create tiny connections to the natural world. As an artist I am filled with endless curiosity. Through my metal interpretations, I hope to inspire others to seek their own connections to nature." Visit Dana Finimore's member page here.