About Artist Dana Hayne's Fractal Art

 Mission: My Fractal Art is about life. I wanted to demonstrate how we are like God, God is within us, so is Mother Nature & Father Time: The Universe. How “God” is “coded” into us: Mathematically, with sacred Geometry abstractly.

I wanted to try to convey my NDE artistically.


In 1992, I gave birth to my first child. It was over 72 hours of labor and I had a near death experience having her. She was born 9lbs 10oz after much struggle being stuck in my birth canal. I was in sever pain. I passed out an went into a “dark state”. The pain lifted, but all I could see was dark.


I thought to myself. This is it. The end.


For the pain had lifted. I was in a state of utter peace-- one no matter how hard I try to describe with words does not even begin to give it justice. I had never felt such an over whelming feeling of it before in my life. Nor since. I did not panic, I welcomed it. I thought to myself, now would probably be the time to ask for Jesus. So I did.


Then I saw what others have described as a white light off in the distance. I floated towards it. An thought out loud, with words but without them: Take me. I'm ready. The light grew larger an it was as if I was having a conversation with it. I asked it to take me, but please be sure my newborn was raised the way I would raise it.


I was instantly thrown back into my body.


Back into the intensity of pain, an soon gave birth to my daughter. But the moments I spent “talking to” what I can only describe as God, have been with me all my life. The time, seemed to stand still as I did, although it was probably only a at tops less then a minute. I walked away with a profound sense of “the other side”. An have been searching for a way since to describe what I felt an saw since artistically.


Nothing I have done, has ever seemed to give it the justness it deserves. Or conveys the peace felt. I am a very spiritual person now because of the experience but not overly religious. I do not preach or thump about people about God. Yet, as an artist feel I should try to express the experience creatively. I call what I witnessed God, another might not. So in my work I've tried to express different moods, feelings and sentiments every human experiences.


In 2009, I was contemplating returning to college at Rock Valley to finish up my associates degree. I only had two classes left to take: One of them Algebra which I hate, an have had to repeat more then once since high school. In fact, I was always the kid that would point out to the teachers: When the hell am I ever going to use this in “real” life. I just never saw me using it in art, or anything else for that matter. I was more of a ace at geometry. An it's always been my worse subject, an this time I had to do College level.


I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself through it just for a piece of paper.


So, I got on Google reviewing Algebra to refresh myself. Contemplating if I could even do it anymore. I happened across a Algebra software program. Decided to download it, to see if it could help me. I opened it up, ran it an blew my own mind basically: This was it! It was like jumping down a rabbits hole. I could not get enough of the visuals I saw.


Parts of it where very similar to the “light” I saw.


Described it visually perfectly. The sights within the program where that complex. I started taking screen shots of what I would find within the program. Then importing many into photoshop an enhancing them with light an color. Many of my pieces I worked on describe the experience perfectly. I was shocked and amazed Algebra / Geometry on a computer could show this in such detail. I continued to explore that program an others. “Seeing” things in the rendering it. Popping them out. Enhancing them. An coming up with beautiful abstracts found just like in nature. Asking others, what do you see?
An finding others would see several different images inside one.


Almost like a ink blotter test can.


So I shy'd away from telling folks what I see in one of my fractals, or what it means to me. An left it as you see what you see... just like any good abstraction does. I set a goal, of making a fractal a day for a year. Disciplined myself to do an share one a day. Entertaining others while teaching them about simple fractal art. An as my photoshop skills improved I started to get into more the more abstract art.


I had never liked abstract art in my life until I was introduced to fractals.


I feel in love with color again an the idea of conveying emotion differently then I had ever done before. I grew as a artist because I had a sound belief behind the art & symbolism of it an in it.


That it represented life.


I kept them a simple as you can complex abstraction but found that fractals are what we are made of. They are all though out nature. An like in nature, start out small and given time grow into something beautiful. Sacred Geometry is in our Oceans, Forest, Animals even us. It's what our universe looks like as well. Fractal art is very similar to what a brain can look like inside, our cells an even snap shots of space. An it's all based on mathematical code. Even DNA and light.


So while I'm still not a Algebra expert.


I've come to see it as a code within all things.
Its how “God” is in everything. Even us.


Only computes could produce that kind of mathematical scale to show it so clearly. An having been a computer geek for over 21 years, was elated to discover just how close they can replicate what is out in the real world. Of course I'm not the first to discover it. Pixar figured it out and bases a lot of realistic backgrounds in their animations. Fractal is used in computer gaming an all sorts of visual stuff these days. Fractal art is used to reproduce miniature worlds, with foliage, cliffs an realistic landscapes. An it looks so realistic because this is how mother nature creates it herself.


For me: It unlocked a key for showing what I experienced.


Not every piece is about my NDE, but a lot of them do have this theme of light in them for that reason. For me, it's like looking at what we experience everyday in another way. So we can appreciate what we have: Life an all the profound emotions we experience living it.


An how God is most creative artist there is. Think about it.
Just how beautiful life is.


That is the goal of my fractal art:
To get others to think about it.


Life's beauty.

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