Dionne White is the kind of artist that paints her life. She’s vibrant and intentional with her canvases and how she spends her days. She fills her life with purposeful relationships sprinkled with coaching, prayer, and encouragement, but above all, she’s an advocate for healing and light for many who know her.
On most days, she spends hours in the studio painting canvases dripping with hope. Dionne White believes that paintings are more than material, they are prophetic messages that have the power to change lives. When White was young, she was continually mentored by her highly creative mother who allowed White the freedom to explore all avenues of imaginative exploration. She dabbled with the piano, often painted, crafted, and was encouraged to make her gifts rather than buy them. She was often outside lying in fields, staring at clouds, or making dandelion crowns. This season of innovative freedom layed a foundation that White could build on.
As life moved along, White found herself farther and farther from her creative roots. She would often retreat to art as a safe haven, but her health began to decline and the Lord challenged her to seek a season of restoration. White began to make changes and began proclaiming wellness over herself. She turned back to art, which was one of the most impactful ways she experienced healing.
While I was interviewing White, she pulled out her sleek and stylish white tablet, propped it open on the table, and began explaining the story behind the beautiful painting sitting before us. She had gone outside and found two broken flowers on the ground. In a compassionate whim, she picked up the flowers and took them inside. Later it struck her that the flowers were her–broken, deteriorating, but alive. She began painting them with great passion, and through her art, she was piecing the flowers back together. They were experiencing new life. Through painting, White was prophetically piecing herself back together, too. The stems, the petals, her body, her mind, the water, the vase, her heart, her soul–as she painted, she allowed the Spirit to move and minister within. The finished result was Pieces of Spring, a beautiful painting that means more than flowers.
White began to explore healing through painting, and with the Father’s faithful leading, she continued gaining strength. A woman who once took fifteen medications now lives prescription-free with joy in her heart and a bounce in her step. Her art continues to play a key role in restoring lost things and speaking life into dead places.
Through this experience, White knows the power of prophetic art and hopes that hers can bring restoration to others. She recently shared on Facebook how the art of Kintsugi can recreate a broken piece of pottery by mending it with gold. She said, “Don’t disguise the brokenness— heal, seal, and make it part of the piece’s character.” She is constantly reminding those around her that there is power and great mending that come from experiencing beauty.
White is the kind of artist that’s always learning. She just signed up for an oil painting class at a local University. She believes in always growing and sharpening her skills. The Lord keeps bringing her to situations where she encourages and critiques other artists, and she knows the best way to do that is to humble herself and learn. Like most things in life, you can only speak from what you know, and White wants to keep growing in knowledge.
She is not shy about sharing her journey and what she has learned. In the following weeks after the interview, she shared with me how she is going to speak at her daughter’s school about the healing power of art. Not only that, but she has two books in the works and is excited to get them finished and released. Her heart is to see people live in peace, and her message will help people do that.
A big dream of Whites is to have a large studio space where artists can come from near or far to experience a deep mending through art. Here they can sit, listen to the Father, and learn to paint with Him. They will learn to paint prophetically for themselves and for other people. White hopes that through her art and with this space, she can change lives by bringing an awareness that art is more than visually appealing; it can transform us into new creations.
Dionne White’s heart is painted in gold and beats to the rhythm of love. She is overflowing with ideas and ways to help shape the world with hope. There’s not much this woman can’t do when she puts her mind to it. Just as she was pieced back together, she wants other people to be walking examples of Kintsugi, too— brokenness healed with gold.
For more information, or to view White’s artwork please visit https://www.dionnewhiteart.com/.
Featured Image by Rhonda K
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