About Danuta
Santa Barbara-based artist whose work weaves together nature, symbolic language, and psychological inquiry, exploring the intersection of internal states and visual metaphor. She approaches abstraction as a space where natural systems, internal states, and cultural symbols converge. Her paintings— often rendered in acrylics, oils, and pencil—employ a restrained, often monochromatic palette and incorporate biological materials, natural textures, and geometric structures to explore themes of impermanence, duality, and transformation. Danuta integrates organic forms as references to the natural world, while symbolic motifs emerge as visual metaphors for the human psyche. Influenced by both Eastern and Western traditions of symbolic meaning, her compositions are simultaneously contemplative and architectonic—offering viewers a meditative space shaped by both material and metaphor.
Originally from Poland, Danuta’s early experience in a politically controlled environment shaped her lifelong interest in the tension between constraint and expression. After immigrating to the U.S., she developed a unique visual language that merges realism with abstraction, structure with intuition, and biology with symbolism. She was co-founder of the Aeolian Center for Psychotherapy and Creativity, which focused on public lectures and workshops exploring the intersection of psyche and art.
“Art begins when someone interprets. Art happens when what is seen becomes mixed with the inside of the person who is seeing it.”
— Chaim Potok
Galleries and Exhibitions
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On the Edge! — Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Montecito, CA, May 15 – June 14, 2025 Learn More
Wild! — Voice Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA April 2025
Concerning Myself — LAAA Online, Los Angeles, CA April 2025
Aurora — LAAA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA · December 2024
Turning Fork — LAAA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA · September 2024
Echoing — Voice Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA · September 2024
Blooming — Voice Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA · June 2024
Faces and Figures — Las Lagunas Gallery, Long Beach, CA · July 2024
An Artful Affair — Art Foundation of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA · October 2023 & 2024
Santa Barbara Art Association Shows — Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA · December 2023 & 2024
Ready to Hang — CAW – Community Arts Workshop, Santa Barbara, CA · November 2023 & 2024
Off the Wall Reimagined — Museum of Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA · May 2023
Shape & Soul — Carpinteria Art Center, Carpinteria, CA · February 2023
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Celebrating 10 Years — Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA · December 2020
Clay and Paint — Clay Studio, Goleta, CA · February 2019
Out of the Studio — Distinctive Art Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA · February 2017
Unforgotten Cities — Gallery 113, Santa Barbara, CA · June 2016
Figurative Paintings— CASA Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA · September 2015
Black and White and Shades of Gray — JCC National Show, curated by Lynn M. Holley, Santa Barbara, CA · Jan–Feb 2015
Expressive Realism and Abstract Coexist — Studio 933, Santa Barbara, CA · Nov 2012
Solo Exhibition— Flowers Under House Arrest, Santa Barbara, CA · June 2012
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Los Angeles Art Association – LAAA
The Santa Barbara Art Association – SBAA (past Vice President)
Santa Barbara Artists Studio Tour – SBSA (Board member)
The Abstract Art Collective – AAC
La Cumbre Center for Creative Arts – LCCCA
The Carpinteria Art Center
Mesa Artists Studio Tour- MAST
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Illuminations Gallery
LCCCA; Gallery Row at La Cumbre Plaza
121 S. Hope Avenue
Santa Barbara, CA 93105Past: Ambassador Gallery (Art Galleries & Consultants) W. Canyon Perdido st Santa Barbara CA
