After graduating from SVA I worked in the field for three years as an assistant to various photographers. The crème de la crème job before I moved to Amsterdam was assistant photographer at Tiffany’s, a store renowned for their fine jewelry and their opulent stained glass windows. On the weekends they permitted me to use their studio for my own work. I became familiar with large format cameras and strobe lighting and produced a portfolio which helped me to get accepted into the graduate program at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. During this time I made a cultural and an aesthetic shift. I had worked previously in black and white but after moving to Holland I turned to colour.

In 1988, eleven years after my first retreat, I returned to Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and attended a three month Buddhist Seminary. I met my future husband, Rein, at seminary and moved to Holland in 1989. We were married the following year and in 1994 had our daughter Ana. We are currently living in a small village outside of Amsterdam.

In 2003 I made a deep connection with Vinyasa Yoga and have been practicing it ever since. Yoga means union and it has helped me further join dharma with art. As a practitioner of the Bodhisattva path I have learned that one does not receive medals,
one just does one’s job. I realize that my job is to make art and not make a big deal out of it.
Just do it!

Dana Marshall