Dana Finch grew up in Cheshire and has subsequently lived in several parts of the UK including Scotland, London and Devon. The artist has also resided in the European countries of Denmark and Germany. From childhood Dana travelled widely in Spain and southern Europe. One of the most formative experiences of her life was visiting the Moorish gardens and palaces of Spain as a child. Later in life Dana visited Scandinavia, India, Nepal and the USA.
It is these cosmopolitan and urbane experiences that inform Dana Finch’s work. The artist is inspired not only by the wild and extreme desert or rugged mountain landscapes but also the gardens and the poetic narratives of cultivated and inhabited spaces. It is these investigations that shape the artist’s paintings.
Dana currently lives in West Cornwall, a cooler but no less dramatic environment, where she paints in a studio in Trewidden Gardens near Newlyn.
Dana Finch says of her work: “My paintings don’t follow a logical composition or narrative. I like to build up subject matter, through a sometimes intensive process of layering, erasing, editing and reorganising, to allow the viewer to make their own interpretation which resonates with them visually and emotionally. Rather than follow the conventions of perspective or representation, I try to paint as I see, in glimpses and fragments, with memory and sensation, and an awareness of the mystery and power of the natural world. We live in a time where nature can no longer be taken for granted and our own deep connection to the living world of plants and creatures must be honoured. I think of the plants that I paint more as ‘plant forms’ rather than individual species – perhaps something akin to a Platonic ideal, or a meta-form or template for all the plants yet to manifest.”
Dana Finch has been a member of the ‘Newlyn Society of Artists’ since 2016. The artist has work in many private collections in the UK, USA and Europe. These include the ‘University of Oxford (Department of Experimental Psychology)' and the ‘Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute’ at Green Templeton College.
Selected Exhibitions: Solo Shows
2012 Solo show, Financial Services Authority Canary Wharf (March - April)
2010 Greyfriar’s Art Centre, King’s Lynn, Showcase
Selected Recent Exhibitions: Group Shows
2022 Degrees, Terra Mater Group Show, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
2021 Josie Eastwood, Spring Show
2021 Germination, Terra Mater, Group Show, Tremenheere Gallery
2021 Art for Cure, Group Show
2020 Josie Eastwood Summer Show
2019 NSA Group shows: Ex-Libris (April) and Drawing Show (October)
2019 Assemble, Group Show, After Nyne Gallery, London (Tregony in London)
2018 Luminous Ground, Tregony, Three-person show (November)
2018 Cypher – Group show, Tremenheere Gallery (January)
2017 Fresh Air biennial sculpture show, Pool House Gallery, Quenington (June)
2017 Josie Eastwood, Spring show (May)
2017 Tales in Light, Tregony Gallery (April)
Curating and publications
2020 Of Earth, For Earth – Group show at Heartlands, March
Of Earth, For Earth – co-edited and contributed to book, published December 2020
2020 Deep Earth Synergies Arts Hub co-founded
2021 Artists-in-Mining programme launched