Dana Dart-McLean

Artwork

My artwork is primarily murals, paintings, and sculpture. I incorporate illustration, text, and abstract images in my visual work, using photography, archival images, and video as starting points to map how visualization processes have primal roots expressed through current technologies. Jungian dream analysis is kin to my painting process. My work has been shown in galleries and community spaces, nationally and internationally. Here is a review of my most recent show in collaboration with artists, Morgan Ritter and Johanna Jackson at Et. Al etc. Gallery in San Francisco.

I send out an infrequent newsletter, Concentrated Practices, with illustration and writing, about mental health, creativity, emotions, and thought patterns, as well as useful practices for integrating these and other parts of being. Sign up for the newsletter via email, listed in contact section.

Facilitation

I facilitate workshops on painting as a healing tool and the use of the arts in psychotherapy for different groups, including clinicians, teachers, artists, and anyone looking to relax through painting, most recently at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive through the Art Lab. I have workshops coming up at San Francisco County Jail and Washington Public High School. Transformative justice and supporting community by reducing barriers to accessing creative practice inspires my facilitation work.

Expressive Arts Therapy

I graduated from California Institute for Integral Studies with an MA in Counseling with a focus on Expressive Art Therapy (EXA) 2015. I am an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, working in community mental health for the past four years. My current work is with a project that collaborates with the city, the community, and other organizations to reduce harm and increase care for unhoused people.

My therapeutic training and interest are in the use of somatic and expressive arts therapies rooted in psychodynamic and attachment theories with an emphasis on trauma and resilience. My current focus is on harm reduction therapy.

In all of my work, I participate in social movements for justice that expand art, care, and healing for collective liberation led by those who are most marginalized. This looks a lot of different ways, depending on the situation.

I return resources in exchange for occupying Ohlone land, here, with Sogrea Te’ Land Trust.