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San Francisco based artist Dana Arden Petersen was born in Monterey, California, and grew up in Contra Costa County with summers spent in Gualala (a town on the Mendocino coast) and Lake Tahoe’s North Shore.  Her fondest childhood memories are of exploring the streams, creeks, abandoned barns, and heritage apricot orchards that proliferated the hills near her home.  She has always liked to draw and won her first juried art competition in fourth grade. 

 

Dana earned her BA in the Practice of Art from UC Berkeley and upon graduating she moved to San Francisco to work in the business end of the art world.  She honed her skills as a publicist while working for Circle Gallery on Maiden Lane, housed in the only S.F. building designed by famed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. She promoted shows for Time/Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt and painters Robert Heindel, Sandro Chia, and Peter Max, just to name a few. Later Dana worked for Butterfield & Butterfield Auctioneers where she organized collaborative events with SFMOMA, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Oakland Museum, The Palm Springs Desert Museum, and the Bridgehampton Historical Society.

 

 

In 2008 Dana decided to pursue her passion for painting full-time.  Her watercolors have been selected for many juried shows, hosted by judges such as Maria Medua, SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Svea Lin Vezzone, Swarm Gallery, Suzane Baizerman, Crafts and Decorative Arts, Oakland Museum, Kate Eilertsen, Director of Visual Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Barbara Morris, Contributing Editor of Art Week.   Commercially, Dana has been invited to do pop-up exhibits with West Elm, Kiehl’s, and Starbucks. 

 

 

Dana’s watercolors emanate joy and peace and reveal admiration for the natural world.  She explores native flora and fauna on her morning walks near Glen Canyon, where encounters with coyotes, hummingbirds, and red-tailed hawks are commonplace. In addition to painting, Dana is an avid nature photographer. 

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