A Rappahannock artist’s journey begins
Dan Blackman of Rappahannock County is a very experienced and skilled commercial welder by trade. During the week, he has to leave the county to make his living in a welding shop in the Shenandoah Valley. Julie Sullivan recently initiated her life’s dream of growing owers in Rappahannock in what she called “Slow Flowers,” and she explained in launching her farm and business “Jules Got Flowers” that Slow Flowers is analogous to local food in the locally grown “Farm to Table” markets.
Consequently, Julie wanted something symbolic to capture her vision, so she asked a graphic designer to design the business logo, which Dan turned into a unique weathervane on top of the cupola of her new Rappahannock home.
Blackman took up that challenge of artistic creativity and with the help of two other talented Rappahannock artists, and his career as a commercial welder became that of artist.
To create a metal oral bouquet that could handle seasonal elements, he tempered his steel oral design with various levels of heat. The artistic e ect was multi-color glistening as the sun hit the various angles of the piece. However, since it was a depiction of a oral boutique, he needed help with the symbolic glass in the nished piece. The very talented Rappahannock stained glass artist Patricia “Patty” Brennan graciously helped Dan with the glass part of his creation. (For full disclosure, I have a beautiful stained glass window designed by Patty.)
Julie took a picture of Dan holding his nished work before placing it on her house:
The creative process of his rst artistic piece took a unique Rappahannock twist. The oral arrangement was engraved as a gi to Dan by county resident Patty Sevre. She is a world renowned engraver.
When Patty Sevre was 15 years old in 1957, President Eisenhower called Tiffany & Co. of New York. Patty’s father, who had a glass factory in Brooklyn, New York and worked with Tiffany, was an engraver but was on travel when the call was made. “Ike” needed a piece of exquisite cut glass engraved with a unique style for a gift to Queen Elizabeth II of England for her state visit.
With her father absent, Patty was asked if she had the confidence to undertake such an important assignment. After saying yes, she was commissioned to engrave a Canadian goose on Baccarat crystal. The piece was so very successful that it began Patty’s national and international seven-decade career as an renowned master engraver.
Her ongoing legacy living in Rappahannock County is captured by her explaining, “It’s a wonderful, challenging art [that] keeps me on my toes. I have to say God gave me the talent and the persistence to go on with this art. It’s not a get- rich business, but very rewarding.”
Dan Blackman is now continuing his work as a new artist addition to Rappahannock County’s vibrant multi-faceted art scene.
His artistic gi s can be seen as seen in his latest piece: