Where Music Meets Nature

The artistic journey of Dana Falconberry

By Rachel Soulliere | Nov. 14, 2026

From art galleries to center stage, artist Dana Falconberry dances to the beat of her own drum. Locals in Austin, Texas, recognize her as a folk musician who has released multiple albums and toured around the world. However, at her new home base on Leelanau Peninsula, she’s known for her nature-inspired acrylic paintings with chainstitch embroidery that can be found at V Gallery in Omena at 5039 N. West Bay Shore Dr.

Falconberry, who was born and raised in Dearborn, has been doing visual arts her whole life, including her own album covers and posters, but didn’t make the transition to art full-time until her two-decade journey in Texas came to an end.

“I started writing songs in college in Arkansas, and then moved to Austin to pursue music. I worked with a full band and toured, recorded albums, and did it all for quite a while. I ended up getting burnt out in the music industry and decided to leave. When I stopped playing music, art became my focus,” says Falconberry.

Changing Careers and States

The transition from music to art was one that happened in multiple waves. While touring was a passion of hers, Falconberry found herself running out of money and needing to come back from tour and replenish her funds.

“As a touring musician, it’s hard to have a regular job,” Falconberry explains. “A friend of mine started an embroidery company called Fort Lonesome in Austin, and she needed help. She wanted to train someone in chain stitch embroidery, and I quickly said ‘Alright, that sounds weird, I’m in!’ Between tours, I worked for her for six years and learned a lot about design, technique, working with customers, and doing commissions. I watched her business pick up as mine was falling apart.”

What was a survival job turned passion when Falconberry decided to completely leave the music world behind and pursue art full-time. Her first stop was west Texas, where she found inspiration and started creating art based on the local landscape. Then, during the pandemic, Falconberry began craving the northern Michigan lifestyle.

“I fell in love with northern Michigan when our family would come up here from Dearborn in the summer. I felt a strong pull and connection to the land and would feel inspired during every visit. When COVID hit, as cliché as it sounds, the trees started calling me, and it got to the point where it was deafening. That’s when I threw my hands up and said ‘Okay, fine, I’ll move!’ and I didn’t look back,” says Falconberry.

Natural Inspiration

Now, Falconberry and her partner live on Leelanau Peninsula, and she is one of the resident artists at V Gallery in Omena. She works there a few days a week and has a large collection of her artwork on display.

Finding inspiration in northern Michigan’s flora and fauna, Falconberry regularly has new pieces popping up that represent the four distinct seasons of our region. During this time of year, she can be found stitching leaf portraits and treats each individual leaf and their portrait as a human being. You can also find pieces from her recent solo show based on birds she has personal relationships with.

When Falconberry is in the flow of creating art, she finds herself hiking and getting lost in nature.

“I like to work from memories and dreams, so I’ll go on a hike to get inspired. When I’m ready to start a piece, I’ll begin with paint and draw from my visions. I start with large washes of very watery acrylic paint layers and try to note what is emerging from that. I then usually make a landscape out of it, but I allow that first layer to inform me on what it will be,” she explains. “After that, I’ll let the space guide me. I may know what I want to feature, like a mushroom, goldenrod, or white pine, but I’ll let that composition come through on its own.

Falconberry also finds herself fascinated by color, movement, and using art as a healing process. When previously battling cancer, she found her own type of therapy to help get her through.

“When I had cancer, I was hyper-focused on using ghost pipes as my subject. They are magical flowers that look like mushrooms and have crazy white stalks that come out of the forest floor. From painting to stitching, I used them in a variety of ways as I was getting treatment and being faced with my morality,” Falconberry says. “Stitching and painting ghost pipes guided me, and I leaned on it intensely during that stage of my life. It’s powerful to think that in the darkest and hardest of times, there is always something you can lean on artistically or musically.”

Joining the Community

Since landing on the Leelanau Peninsula, Falconberry has immersed herself in the local artist community and finds inspiration through her friends’ artwork, shows, and events, including artists Alyssa Smith, Nik Burkhart, or Rachel Winslow.

“There is a spirit of innovation here that I truly didn’t expect. From gallery owners who allow you to be experimental to the arts being a way of life, it creates a culture up here where people aren’t creating the same landscapes over and over again. The artists here are truly inspired by each other and truly enjoy each other’s company. It creates a very supportive environment and it’s unmatched in my experience with anywhere else I’ve been. It’s very special and doesn’t feel like a separate thing to be a part of the art world here. There is a spirit of innovation in northern Michigan that can’t be matched.”

Falconberry’s pieces are always rotating and for sale. While most of her artwork is in galleries, she also participates in shows and partnerships. Her most recent collaboration was with Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC).

“Working with GTRLC was an incredible collaboration,” Falconberry says. “I was able to work closely with botanists and their team to highlight specific plants that are indicator species at The Ridge, one of their newer properties that was saved from development.”

The Ridge is a 312-acre property in East Bay Township identified as one of the region’s highest-priority landscapes for protection. Some of Falconberry’s pieces have already sold, but others are still on display at the GTRLC headquarters.

While Falconberry is juggling a few commission projects and preparing a new body of work for a solo show this April in west Texas, she is also finding her way back to music. She is working with Grammy-winning musician Andrew Dost and independent musician and record producer Philip Parker to create a new album. She tells us she’s ready to bring music back into the picture and release an album in 2027 to bring her journey full circle.

To stay up to date with Falconberry’s art and to learn more about her upcoming album, visit danafalconberry.com.

Pictured: "Arcadia Blue" 16x12, acrylic and chainstitch embroidery (2024)