Dani Dodge's art focuses on public transportation within metropolitan areas.

She is inspired by nearly two decades of work as a journalist. She began painting in 2004 after being embedded with the Marines in Iraq. Dani was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006, but left newspapers two years later to focus on telling stories through her art.

Dani works primarily by layering different media – acrylic paint, spray paint, ink and collage – to create raw, abstracted images that tell tales of loneliness, joy, pain and triumph – in short, of being human. She is inspired by the ways that people cope in crowded cities, where strangers jostle hostility, lust and comfort, often within the same block or subway car.

Her art has been included in national and international juried shows and won many awards. She has garnered media attention on local television as well as in print publications including San Diego Magazine, Pacific San Diego Magazine, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Wonderwall Magazine, and the book International Contemporary Artists No. II. She is essentially self-taught but grateful to artist mentors who helped her to trust her own voice.

Dani lives in San Diego, Calif. Her work can be seen at Pimento Fine Art in Little Italy, at the monthly Ray at Night Art Walk in North Park, and often at SDAI: Museum of the Living Artist in Balboa Park.