Bio

Dana Telsrow was born in Iowa in 1990 and grew up in the small towns of Lowden and Wilton. He started playing trombone and guitar at age 12. Entering high school, Dana switched from trombone to tuba, eventually becoming first chair in the Iowa All-State band during his senior year. Outside of school, Dana played guitar in bands and, at only 16, gave lessons to students ranging from kindergartners to retirees. Dana would drive to the neighboring town of Muscatine to teach and also played in a cover band with a group of middle-aged men who were older than his parents. 

In 2009, Dana went to the University of Iowa on a music scholarship to study tuba performance. He was in the Hawkeye Marching Band for two years. Pretty soon into college, Dana started feeling like maybe tuba wasn’t what he wanted to devote his life to. So he switched to a more general music degree, sacrificing the scholarship to be able to explore other classes. He started taking courses in poetry and visual art, and became fascinated by the Fluxus and Dada eras of art history by the way of composer John Cage. Toward the end of his time in school, Dana considered staying for a fifth year to complete a second major in studio art, but was too eager to start making art on his own outside of the academic setting. 

Just after graduating in 2013, Dana was Public Space One’s first “free studio” artist in residence. For three months he worked on recording a solo EP, created video art, and printed CD covers using the letterpress available in the printmaking studio. 

Composing, arranging, and producing music was Dana’s focus for the next eight years. He took influences of popular, classical, and avant-garde music and created a challenging songwriting style. Throughout those years, Dana toured as a solo artist (Dana T), half of the duo Karen Meat, and played in numerous other bands. Notable performances include Treefort Music Festival in Boise, ID, True/False Film festival in Columbia, MO, and 80/35 Festival in Des Moines, IA.

Dana also worked as an audio engineer at Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, IA from 2015 to 2022. He worked on albums, audiobooks, podcasts, films, and more. Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey, William Elliott Whitmore, David Zollo, Elizabeth Moen, Dan English… These are only a handful of Iowa’s great musicians that Dana had the opportunity to work with at Flat Black.

Though there was a clear focus on music, visual art always remained an interest and Dana continued to draw, take film photographs, and experiment with video and animation. This was important because when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the music industry, Dana turned to drawing with a new vigor. Those who had supported him as a musician were now commissioning him to make portraits. His drawings soon appeared in Little Village Magazine, even creating three portraits for the front cover.

In 2022, Dana started studying drawing and painting under artist Jimmy Miracle. Jimmy’s clear passion and classical understanding of art inspired Dana to learn as much as possible about the fundamental principles of painting and drawing. This led to a deeper interest in portraiture and plein air painting. After a couple years of study, Dana began showing work in exhibits across the country.

Dana is now working to further develop his abilities as an oil painter. He is a 2026 recipient of a professional development grant from the Iowa Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts. The grant has provided the opportunity to take workshops with Patricia Watwood, Bethann Moran-Handzlik, and JaFang Lu, gain mentorship under Hector Acuna, and study online through Grand Central Atelier. Also in 2026, Dana received an “Honorable Mention” award while participating in his first plein air competition hosted by Art Domestique in Washington, IA. He was awarded “Best Portrait” by juror David Hannon at the 5th Annual Midwest Juried Art Exhibit hosted by the Hamilton County Artists Association in Noblesville, IN.