Dana Chapman Tupa is at heart a maker of objects that consider the wonderment of human experience – elations and sorrows. Creating a nostalgic dialogue-of-knowing between maker and viewer is important. She concentrates on capturing moments in time through simulated objects. Tupa’s most recent body of work, Emergent Dichotomy, continues the White Lies en Communiqué period as a reaction to loss and the unveiling of opportunities for emergence which transcends life disruptors. Tupa asks the viewer to consider what may happen when transcendence enters one’s life, and to consider the dichotomy of ‘the before’ and ‘the after’ where reality is an opportunity for clarity of self during the process of experiential growth. While rooted in the stoneware tradition, combining media is materializing in the new artworks. Working collaboratively with master woodman Noel Hall, Tupa debuts fine woodwork combinations from Hall alongside her traditional stoneware works. Hall’s work additions are intended to have beauty, create inspiration, and start conversations. Tupa remains true to her aesthetic of simulating objects and invites viewers to investigate combined media where one supports the other yet does not overtake, a mutual exchange of partnership. Media combinations represent one’s new direction which must be honored despite personal desire. Series titles reveal universal moments-of-knowing symbolized through combinations of naturalistic forms. Nature will take its course despite our human attempts to redirect or control it.
