Buchanan Dam artist Daniel Adams still uses personal touch for his creations
One of Daniel Adams' most notable works is a forlorn buffalo known as “Tuff Tonka.” Courtesy photo
CONNIE SWINNEY • PICAYUNE STAFF
BUCHANAN DAM — For 61-year-old Daniel Adams, the painstaking process of capturing the detail, color or contrast in etchings, oil paintings, watercolors, sculptures or metalsmithing results in images that inspire “healing and compassion.”“When you hold an original work, there is a different feeling you get from something that was digitally reproduced or done by the numbers,” he said. “You know the difference.”
Adams recently moved his gallery, Daniel Adams Fine Art, from Burnet to Buchanan Dam to make room for his business and collection that features nature themes, portraits and other art ventures. The gallery is located at 17617 Texas 29 East.
“It’s a much bigger space, more open,” he said. “It’s much more creative out here, so I can do more things.”
The gallery can hardly contain his work, which showcases pieces he describes as a culmination of his talent, experience, education, training and dedication to a “lost art.”
“Technology — working from a computer — is separating the artist from the work. It’s like a copy of a copy,” he said. “In artwork created by hand, the energy of the artist is transposed.”
Adams, a former student of Disney University in Florida, managed the art department of hundreds of artists at Disney World and worked at the Orlando theme park for 17 years before retiring to the Highland Lakes.
During his time at Disney, he earned the title “Fastest Draw in the East” for his work with caricatures, including personal sittings with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, world-renowned violinist Guy Lombardo and guitar virtuoso Jose Feliciano.
His work at Disney included life-size sculptures of wild animals and even an animatronic dinosaur at Epcot Center.
Adams also designed the art for license plates in Florida to commemorate the space shuttle Challenger disaster on Jan. 28, 1986. His design raised $50 million for a nonprofit group to fund the Kennedy Space Center Challenger Memorial at Cape Canaveral.
He and his wife, Carol, a retired Inks Lake State Park ranger and naturalist, manage the gallery together.
The Adams have nurtured a following among area residents and within art circles, inspiring him to launch the latest project of so-called “Land Art” for commercial and residential clients.
“Nobody is doing this in this area. We feel like we’re making a grand introduction to this whole concept of having beautiful art outdoors,” Carol Adams said. “(The pieces are) colorful, bright, cheerful.”
Land Art displays are for gardens, patios and other outdoor-room spaces.
“Everything is weather-resistant, fade-resistant, stainless-steel tacks, PVC,” she said. “The back side is double-sided vinyl.”
Each piece is either an original design or inspired by existing oil or watercolor works, Daniel Adams said.
Whether indoors or outdoors, Adams is bound by an innate desire to use his talent to create and share beauty.
“When other kids had lemonade stands, I had an art stand. I remember drawing this man’s wife. He just reached into his pocket and pulled out a lot of change and gave it to me,” he said. “I wanted to be an artist so long ago. I can’t remember ever being without inspiration.”
Go to www.1adams.com or email adamsfineart@yahoo.com for more about Daniel Adams Fine Art.
connie@thepicayune.com