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Artist Biography

Over 30 years ago, as a young girl in fifth grade, Dana Cargile began painting under the tutelage of her grandmother, Wauzelia Shelley. Wauzelia, an accomplished artist, traveled around Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City selling landscape paintings out of the trunk of her car. Her home was filled with art, some of it hers, some of it traded from other artists and some from workshops. “She was my first painting instructor, and the inspiration to be an artist came from her,” said Dana.

 

Dana has been painting since the 5th grade. She and her beloved husband are the proud parents of three boys. Dana received her formal art education from Southwest Museum of Art in Midland, TX, Baylor University, and workshops in Jackson, MS, Tyler, TX, and The Glassell School of Art in Houston, TX. 
Dana’s painting style can be attributed to growing up in West Texas as reflected in the loose, painterly and impressionistic qualities in her own work.
 As an art teacher, Dana has experience teaching young people and adults. She has taught art to 6th through 12th graders at The Brookhill School in Bullard, TX and to Tyler Junior College Continuing Education adult students for several years before moving to Houston in 2021.
 Not only is Dana an art teacher, but she is also a practicing professional artist. She is regularly selected for juried art shows and is represented by The House of Wynne in Tyler. 
She illustrated the children’s books “Pet Fairy,” “The Art of Christmas,” “The Lost Bicycle,” and has created art for church bulletins distributed nationwide by Anchor Wallace Publications.
 Dana loved working for Valerosa Designs and Gallery when living in Tyler, hanging new paintings, rotating art displays, and showing and selling artworks to the public. 
Dana is also active in promoting nonprofits through her art. She served as the Children’s Artist for Cattle Baron’s Little Wranglers and worked with children receiving cancer treatment to create paintings to fund raise for the American Cancer Society.


Now living in Houston, Dana’s new studio is located in The Silos at Sawyer Yards, an art studio co-op.

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