Dawn Nelson is an emotionally charged painter, usually working on large expressionist surfaces. Energy undulates with an internal tempest, the artist re-acquainting herself with it constantly, resulting in a cathartic release. From December 26, 2016, to February 15, 2021, Nelson focused this energy into smaller surfaces to create a diary of sorts. She started a chain reaction to the highly charged atmosphere of politics, both worldly and personal, random news items, the deception that arises from unchecked technology and simple observation. This came in the form of 1,517 individual daily collages and drawings on calendar pages, as she examined her inner content in reaction to outer circumstances.

She considers this a subset of her larger body of work. Although the larger paintings are immediately abstractions, Nelson feels the landscape and human body are ever-present in the works, and that the bridge to the diary installation lies in the narrative.

The artist considers this vast body of work a historical document, in which she tried not to react with judgment, but with observation. Although she described that time as “terrifying,” she felt that she was simply reporting what was affecting her, what was important to her personally and creating a balance in the overwhelming collection of anxieties that she had been experiencing since the 2016 election.