More Than Just Art
We hope you had a wonderful start to the new year! This week, we want to introduce you to Donna Notestine, from The Fractal Collective. Donna’s story is so important because it shows us that there is so much more to art than just meets the eye.
Donna discovered her passion for paint pouring while navigating through an extremely difficult time in her life. While in the midst of caring for her mom who was diagnosed with Alzheimers, Donna also experienced what no parent ever should - the tragic loss of her son. In the wake of his passing, Donna spent a lot of time with her other children, and her middle son introduced her to paint pouring. While he eventually lost interest, Donna just kept going. And going. And going. She realized that this creativity that she discovered within herself served as a kind of therapy. She also wanted to embrace this newly discovered talent in honor of her son who had passed, who helped to inspire her with his own artistic talent. Paint pouring became a way of channeling her grief into a beautiful creative energy.
Two years ago, Donna officially started her own business called The Fractal Collective. What had initially started out with just paint pours has now developed into a whole array of items. Donna now also creates coasters, jewelry boxes with handmade tiles, resin bowls, wine stoppers, ornaments, and jewelry created out of paint skins (which is paint that dries off the sides of a canvas).
Donna was introduced to The York Merchant through her cousin. After researching the marketplace and the benefits it offered, she knew she had to jump on it. Originally, she was setting up her products in craft fairs, but the constant physical toll it was taking to set up and tear down over and over began to be too much to do it all by herself. Now, having her products in a set space with the ability to be sold at anytime, has left her more time to focus on what matters the most - creating her art and spending time with her family.
Donna believes her art has saved her in many ways. Because of the pandemic, her full time job became part time, so the sales from her products have helped her be able to keep her house and maintain her affairs. Her art has also saved her emotionally, by helping her turn her grief from losing her son into a way to add beauty to the world and to the lives of others.
