Southport Magazine

Christmas at the beach can be an exciting thing to experience, especially if you are used to snow-covered trees and idyllic winter scenes during the Holidays. The change in scenery is certainly a nice break from the cold winter doldrums. Living by the ocean can easily influence your creative side and change your Christmas decorating vibe from green trees to seashells and other beach finds. After a lifetime of military life and constantly moving, Donna Davis is happy to have her toes in the sand here on the coast and her artwork covered in seashells. “My artwork began from a love of looking for and collecting seashells while walking on the beach,” she said. “I just kept collecting and collecting, and I ended up with way too many seashells. I started creating things, and then had to find a way to sell them because I was running out of room!” 

Davis makes beautiful decorative pieces such as wreaths, cone-shaped trees, ornaments, and other framed pieces. “I make my art from local shells and shell pieces as well as shells I get from wholesale stores,” she said. “It starts with whatever seashells I happen to have at hand and then supplemented with my stash of other seashells. My process when I make seashell trees starts with a styrofoam cone. Then I cover the bottom with cork, attach the base, and then start adding seashells (larger to smaller) from the bottom up to the top. I take into consideration color and shapes as I build the tree. No matter what I’m making, it’s always like putting a puzzle together.”

It’s not unusual for an artist to not have any formal training. A graduate of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT, Davis holds degrees in physical education and health education. Her artistic creativity really grew after she started working with special needs kids. “My last job before retiring was as a Special Education Teacher for 7th and 8th grade students with learning disabilities,” said Davis. “This is where my creativity really kicked in, as I needed to be able to find several different ways to help my students learn and to assess what they have learned. With the VA Standards of Learning assessments (state tests), many of my students qualified for alternative assessments. I was determined to show the state that they had mastered the SOLs by creating assessments, and I found that I was actually very creative. Many lessons and assessments involved me having to illustrate standards.”  

Gathering inspiration from her beach finds is easy for Davis as she sees beauty even in the broken shells. “I get my inspiration from the beauty of the seashells, especially the broken ones,” she said. “In teaching my students with special needs, I focused on the students’ strengths rather than their disabilities. In doing so, there was always a positive outcome. With the seashells, rather than looking at the brokenness, I focus on the colors and shapes and want to show that in using them in my artwork. Walking the beach for hours provides lots of time to think about how I’d use a particular seashell in a piece of art,” she said. The biggest influences in her artwork are the availability of seashells and just what she feels like making at any particular time. “I prefer to just create rather than try to figure out a pattern.”

Davis’ favorite pieces she makes are her Oyster Shell Blossom and the Shell Tree. “I created from the broken pieces of whelks and conchs that are shaped like a curly-q,” she said. “Both of these are very time-consuming to make because all of the seashells used are ones that I found on the beach. These are my favorites partly because of the time spent with each piece and also because they are different from other pieces I’ve made. I take a long walk on the beach, look through shell piles, and watch for shells rolling up on the shore.”

Find Davis’ artwork at The Artisans Gallery on Howe and at Barn & Beach Designs in Southport. You can reach her by email at spt4usd@gmail.com.