Dena Carter is an abstract painter/designer/illustrator born in 1969, in Santa Clarita, California. Dena earned her Associates Degree in Graphic Design in 1989 from Mount Hood Community College. Her career began shortly afterwards as an art director for Willamette Weekly, and as a freelance…Dena Carter is an abstract painter/designer/illustrator born in 1969, in Santa Clarita, California. Dena earned her Associates Degree in Graphic Design in 1989 from Mount Hood Community College. Her career began shortly afterwards as an art director for Willamette Weekly, and as a freelance designer for local musicians in Portland, Oregon. In her free time, she turned to her studio, focusing on developing her personal painting style. Moving to Los Angeles in 1996, Dena joined DADA, exhibiting her work in downtown L.A. She also started a boutique greeting card company, Dloveleigh, featuring her illustrations and typography. It was Dena's return to nature in 2003, moving to Ashland, Oregon, where she began painting mini and wall-size abstract mixed media artworks on paper/canvas. Dena continues to create in her light-filled studio in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix, AZ. My journey with art began at age 18, when my college painting professor encouraged me to explore abstract painting during his still-life class. This ingrained in me, “permission to create who you are and what you want”. From that moment on, painting became a gateway to freedom. As a painter and person, I am experiential, looking for connection; what makes sense and what doesn’t. What works and what doesn’t. I love patterns, symbols, and energy; incorporating the seen and unseen into my work. Obsessed with color combinations, spontaneity and beauty, I'm forever painting the elusive, in shapes of softness and playful rebellion. A desire to evoke satisfaction, liberation and hidden messages.
