I've been doing this for over a decade now, and my work has always lived inside a frame. Flat, but never simple. Every portrait starts as a photograph, then I build it up, layer by layer, until it looks more like a painting than a photo. That's just how I do things.
But lately I've been sitting with an idea: what if the piece didn't have to stay flat at all?
That's where this new collection comes in. It's dimensional wall art, meaning the piece actually lifts off the surface and pulls you in. These portraits don't stay flat inside the frame, so you're not just looking at their world, you're standing inside it. It's hand-built, one of a kind, and the story comes forward toward you instead of just sitting behind glass.
What Is Dimensional Wall Art?
Okay, so what does that actually mean? Dimensional wall art (some people call it 3D wall art, or mixed media wall art) is exactly what it sounds like, art that has real depth and texture instead of lying flat like a typical photo or painting. You're not just looking at it, you're kind of experiencing it. The light hits it differently depending on the time of day, it casts shadows, and honestly it just feels more like a piece of art than yet another framed print.
More and more people are moving away from flat prints and looking for something with real presence, something you could reach out and touch. I get it. I feel the same way.
For me, this felt like the natural next step. I've always been trying to make photography feel like more than just a photo, so building actual, physical depth into the piece just made sense.
The Story Behind My First Dimensional Piece: Aspen Trees
So here's what I started with: two aspen trees, each one 15x30 inches, hand-built into a custom shadow box.
Fall is my favorite time of year, I love hiking Rob's Trail up in the mountains above Park City when the leaves turn, and for a few short weeks the whole mountainside turns into a blanket of gold. It's the kind of place that pulls you in, you get completely lost in it, surrounded on every side, and forget everything else for a while. Here's a fun fact most people don't know: a whole aspen grove is usually just one connected root system underneath the ground, they only look like separate trees. Standing in the middle of all that gold, completely surrounded by it, is exactly the feeling I wanted these two pieces to capture.
Each piece is truly one of a kind. I photograph it first, then hand-build it into its dimensional form. Once it sells, that's it, there's no reprint and no do-over. Just the one.
How Each Piece Is Made: From Photograph to Dimensional Art
Every piece starts the same way all my work does, with a photograph. From there, I layer it and build it, physically, not just on a computer, into its dimensional shadow box form. It's really a mix of fine art photography and hands-on, layered building, so the final piece has real texture you can actually see change as the light in the room shifts throughout the day.
For the aspen pieces, the shadow box itself was custom-built right here in Park City, so it was a true team effort between photography and craftsmanship.
Why One-of-a-Kind Wall Art Matters
Look, we live in a world where you can buy the same canvas print as ten other people on the same street. There's something different about owning a piece that will never exist again. When something's hand-built and photographed by the same artist, it's not decor, it's a real piece of art, with a real story, made once, for one wall, one home, one person.
If that kind of thing speaks to you, take a look at my Limited Edition Art collection too, those are made in small, restricted runs, and once they're gone, they're gone.
I'm based in Park City, Utah, and honestly, I'd love for these pieces to end up in homes right here, the same mountains that inspired them in the first place. But if you're farther away and this speaks to you, I'm happy to ship.
That's really the whole philosophy behind everything I make, whether it's a custom portrait built from your story, or this new collection built from mine.
Available Now
The aspen diptych is ready now, and it's a true one of a kind, once it's gone, I won't be making another. Whether you're local here in Park City or you found this looking for dimensional wall art from somewhere else entirely, I'd love to chat about what's possible.
Message me, I'd love to hear from you.
Creatively yours,
Dana