Article from VOICE Of the River Valley
TATIANA KATARA AND THE FAERIE FACTORY
Faerie houses and faerie furniture, even a faerie Taj Mahal and a miniature State Capitol building inhabit the world of Tatiana Katara. This River Valley artist has become known for her exquisite miniatures and the books she writes about the world of faeries.
It all began while Tatiana taught painting and drawing classes at Metropolitan Art in Dodgeville. On a camping trip she saw tiny chairs a girl had made out of sticks. "I thought they were so cute" she remembers. "I went home, got a glue gun, and started making miniature furniture." The owner of Metropolitan Art loved them and arranged for a showing and the faerie furniture was an instant success.
The faerie furniture she designed at that time became a lifesaver when as a single parent with two young children she found herself without a job and a partially renovated farmhouse. Her online research led her to a Chalkfarm Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, featuring the "fantasy worlds." The gallery loved the $20 dollhouse she converted to a faerie house and which she filled with faerie furniture and decorations made from recycled and natural material. It sold for $2,700.
Tatiana's childhood in Clyde, just south of Spring Green was influenced by Taliesin and Frank Lloyd Wright. Her grandfather and great grandfather were Frank Lloyd Wright apprentices, and her mother, Caren Caraway is a local artist now living out west. her father, an architect and also a Taliesin graduate, owned Orbitron, a Spring Green company that manufactured satellite dishes.
Tatiana's love of acting sent her to a private acting academy in Minneapolis and classes at the Guthrie Theater and the University of Minnesota. During that time she met an Italian film director who hired her to do special effects makeup and editing for his film, Trauma. That introduced her to scenic work for both the film industry and theater. But it was acting that she longed to do and she did appear in several plays.
Now, Tatiana's art takes center stage. "Sometimes I feel like my art comes right through me and I should not get the credit for what I do." she says. Her wonderful sense of humor comes through on her web site, www.faeriefactory.com where she uses the faerie world's voice to communicate with readers and where visitors may view some of her art. "It's a great way for me to write about politics, religion, culture and all this stuff in the guise of a faerie tale...we don't have to do it the way we have been doing it."
The web site includes Times of Fae, where Eny Won writes a column called "Eny How" on the "How To of the Week." The column on "How to make contact with faeries" includes a list of rules, beginning with rule number one: Be Nice. This is our number one rule. We follow this to ensure not only our own happiness but the happiness of others.
In another section of Times of Fae, a section proclaims faerie good news, also good for humans. The good news is that life is a wondrous, magical, joy-filled existence and everything anyone needs to experience, is either at their fingertips or within their own selves. That's actually GREAT NEWS because it means that we (faeries and humans alike) have the ability to determine how we will respond to life. We have the ability to make good news by taking kind action.
Tatiana uses her writings about the faerie world to gently express her own beliefs. "Everyone is provided for in the Land of Fae, " she explains. "If you see someone in need, you give, knowing that if you give you receive. It is sort of a spiritual message, but told in a way people can accept ...I practice gratitude. And I rarely ask for anything. I ask for things for others a lot. Just like in the Land of Fae."
Last August, Tatiana married Bryan Dalstrom. They met the year before and discovered mutual interests. "We talked about politics and religion and love and herbalism and Native American spirituality. She says, "Bryan has a collection of Native American Books, he as ha degree in architecture and is into natural building.
Tatiana's lifelong interest in the power of the mind led her to certification as a hypnotherapist. "My dream, after I am done with the faerie stuff...with my hypnosis, I want to help people who are dying tie up loose ends, forgive people they need to forgive...help them with fear issues and help make a way for them.
I don't want to alter their beliefs, but work within theirs to get out of the fear." She has already had experience with this, sometimes in dramatic ways such as the time a man jumped off the third floor balcony of a nursing home and landed on the sidewalk in front of her. In another incident, a woman riding a bike near her was hit by a bus. Both people died in her arms as she helped them through the transition.
For now, Tatiana Katara enjoys her children (Zak age 10 and Willow age 8), her husband Bryan, and creating the art of the faerie world.
BEDROOMS~~ KITCHENS~~DINING ~~BATH & VANITY ~~HOUSES~~CASTLES