After losing her brother Daniela Galcagno, a wife, and a mother of two became a reclusive, until one day she picked up her arts tools that took her to another realm where she created a masterpiece while learning to live with the loss of her brother and trying to find herself again.
FAMILY …
A people’s person, Daniela, now 55 thoroughly enjoys being around people and helping people. Daniela and her husband met when they were sixteen and have been together ever since. Julia and Max are the beautiful fruits of their union.
‘You know, you can’t take anything for granted!’
‘It is God’ s plan, a blessing and you know you can’t take anything for granted. We had them late in our lives, it was a beautiful time for us and still is, but even though they challenge me a lot, I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ Daniela completed a Diploma in primary teaching when many schools were closing, and it was getting hard to get into teaching. She ended up working for Myer for 20 years, in the purchasing department. She met a lot of people with whom she built good friendships. She went on maternity leave for her second child, Max, and started caring for her sick mother with her 4-year-old son. ‘That was incredibly challenging, but I wouldn’t have it any other way’ she explains.
ON VOLUNTEER WORK
Now Daniela has been doing volunteer work at Greenbook Community Health Centre for approximately three years, ‘Because I love it, it comes easily to me.’ She teaches mosaic classes which she enjoys. ‘It is an enjoyable process of problem solving when you are fitting pieces in mosaic artwork like jigsaw puzzles. The joy that it brings to people when they complete their work is just beautifully rewarding’. It is like trying to find yourself again after you were hit by a big storm. She also does some gardening with some disability groups which she says always feels rewarding, when they do pot planting. ‘It is a great escape for me, the people are lovely. It is mainly a supportive and social group. We share laughter, stories, and food.
‘I love being there, I really do’
HER MASTERPIECE – a combination of paper, mosaic and collage using recycled materials
Daniela lost her brother in 2014. This sudden death of her loved one froze her passion. For three years she did nothing, could not be with people or listening to any music. ‘I just became a recluse. I lost everything that I enjoyed doing.’ It wasn’t until she struck the chord with a lovely lady at Greenbook Community Centre who said to her ‘Daniela, I see a lot in you. I’d love to see more of you.’ Daniela worked there for a year filling in for someone who was on maternity leave. ‘From there, she picked me up and let my fly again’. When the Whittlesea Council called for an art exhibition in 2017, she felt like her brother spoke to her that year. She lived, dreamed, and breathed about this artwork every moment. ‘I just threw myself into art because it is the only thing that understood me completely. It doesn’t ask questions, it just let me do’. Art is her escape. ‘I was driven by this incredible force and energy that I can’t even explain and completed everything in four weeks!
‘I just immerse myself into art because it is the only thing that understands me completely. It doesn’t ask questions, it just let me do.’
Daniela attributes her artistic skills to her parents. ‘I got a lot from parents. They never threw anything away’. She has vivid memories of when she was a child, one day she asked her dad to buy her a nozzle, ‘He went out and made one for me, just like that. I was the happiest child in the world’. That experience has been heavily embedded in her. Every item she finds is a treasure, a broken tool, jewellery, a button etc… she does not throw anything away. ‘My masterpiece is made from broken pieces, lost and found, or things given to me. I don’t buy anything. I value and keep things from big to miniscule. Everything has a purpose.’ Daniela specialises in paper mosaic with broken jewellery. She did this artwork on a 30-year-old canvas that she made when she was at university and reused it. Everything is recycled, and ‘I love the fact that I don’t spend anything to produce something so beautiful for all to enjoy’. This beautiful piece is dedicated to her brother, not to win anything or get attention. It is an expression of how she felt at a time and now she says, ‘My brother is free.’ For Daniela, living in the dark for 3 years after losing her brother, this artwork was a turning point, a burst of light and hope, ‘A new birth not only for him but for me as well’. There are just so many symbols in there, all tied in with her family. ‘It just evolved and that’s what really saved me from grief. This art is also the place where my brother is at the moment, a beautiful place!’, she says with reassurance.
A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO OTHER ARTISTS
Daniela believes that there is no perfect mind frame for artists to do artwork. ‘Whether you are experiencing anger, grief, joy or happiness etc… continue doing your art no matter how you feel. It should express how you are feeling at a time and art evolves itself.’ Being passionately crazy for ‘Alice and Wonderland,’ Daniela produced three pieces of that in 2017, all made up with broken things, toys, jewellery etc. She won the First-Choice Award from the City of Whittlesea. ‘I am not an artist, I just love creating,’ she says humbly.
‘Just be true to yourself and love what you do. Art must be heartfelt’
WOMEN IN ARTWORLD
For Daniela, art is not about making a statement. ‘Just be true to yourself and love what you do. Art must be heartfelt. Art reflects mood which is subjected to changes, so are artistic ideas and the energy that fuels artwork also changes. It’s never the same. That is the beauty of art.’
NURTURING SOUL
Doing art is not only fulfilling but helps Daniela by generating millions of art ideas that she would love to do. She thrives being around people, to make a positive impact and enjoys being at an exhibition, getting different responses from people about what they see in her artwork. ‘I get a big kick out of that because everyone has got such a different interpretation from mine.’