DAWN REIFFENSTEIN - Artist and Educator
Dawn Reiffenstein is a Canadian Visionary Artist currently based in Calgary, Alberta. She is one of the new upcoming artists to emerge out of the Canadian Art landscape. She grew up in the small town of Crossfield, Alberta and has remained a native Albertan for her entire life.
Dawn's paintings are recognizable by her ability to use colour and represent vibrant visual imagery. She is devoted to art that represents spiritual, mystical and inner awareness. She frequently uses gold in her images to represent the Divine and strongly identifies with women, nature and animals in her work. She works in the acrylic medium. Her current series, "Sacred Space" is inspired by her shamanism studies.
Upon graduating from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Fine Arts/Bachelor of Education in 2002 Dawn went onto teaching junior high students and continued to create art. She has a broad background in art especially in the areas of painting, hand building with clay, sculpture with mixed media. She went on to Mount Royal University to receive a Certificate of Photography. As a teacher she has worked for the Calgary Board of Education for the last 14 years.
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Since the summer of 2014, Dawn experienced several significant events that triggered her Spiritual awakening and sent her in search of new Spiritual truths. In February, 2016 she visited John of God in Abadiania, Brazil and has been studying Shamanism since her return. In February 2017, she completed a "Return to the Sacred" workshop in Maui, Hawaii.
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As well as teaching art, sculpture and photography over the last 16 years Dawn has facilitated many art and photography clubs and projects including a mural that is prominently displayed in a school library in Calgary, Alberta. She has also worked with students to publish over 10 yearbooks. When Dawn isn’t teaching teenagers art she can usually be found working on her paintings or sculptures with Divine based themes or instructing adults and assisting them to rediscover their creativity. She feels that her paintings are therapy for her soul.
In her spare time, Dawn enjoys travelling to far-flung exotic locations which include her mind, her own backyard and destinations around the planet. She enjoys photography and spending time with friends and family, especially her husband and their two children, who happen to be Yorkshire Terrors.
