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, travelled 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 later received her formal art education from Southwest Museum of Art in Midland, TX, Baylor University, and workshops in Jackson, MS and Tyler, TX.

Dana attributes much of her painting style to the Deep South where she lived for over 14 years. She frequently visited New Orleans to study art, and this contributed to the loose, painterly and impressionistic qualities in her own work.

As an art teacher, Dana has experience teaching young people and adults. She also taught art to 6th through 12th graders at The Brook Hill School in Bullard, TX. Dana has been the art instructor for Tyler Junior College Continuing Education students for several years before moving to Houston in 2021.

Not only is Dana an art teacher, but she is a practicing professional artist. She regularly submits to juried art shows and is represented by The House of Wynne in Tyler, Texas and Wabi Sabi Gallery in Glen Rose, Texas.

She was the illustrator for “Pet Fairy,” a children’s book, The Art of Christmas, and she creates art for church bulletins distributed nationwide by Anchor Wallace Publications.

For the last four years Dana loved working for Valerosa Designs and Gallery, in Tyler, Texas, hanging new paintings, rotating art displays, showing and selling artworks to the public.

Dana is also active in promoting nonprofits through her art. Recently she served as the Children’s Artist for Cattle Baron’s Little Wrangler’s, and worked with oncology children to create paintings to fundraise for the American Cancer Society.

Now living in Houston, Dana’s new studio is located at Winter Street, #A10, Sawyer Yards-Houston, an art studio co-op.

Artist Statement

“I create fine art paintings using oil, acrylic, mixed media and watercolor. My style is impressionistic that utilizes bright contrasting colors. I paint landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes, abstracts, animal and human portraits. I paint images in vivid color that I hope others will connect with. I paint with all the feeling in my heart to send a message to my viewer. My goal is to draw the viewer in to study my work to find hidden images. I make art to leave a piece of myself behind on this earth for my loved ones.”