Donna Grossman Shares Her Migration as an Artist
By Emma Hartman
Donna Grossman loves to sit and watch the sky. Her home in Palma Sola overlooks Robinson Preserve, and she spends time each day watching the herons glide gracefully above the mangroves, the white pelicans swirl in their loose formations, and the migratory birds appear, disappear, and return. Just like the instinctual patterns of the birds she loves to observe, Grossman’s life has been guided not by a linear path, but by a series of departures and arrivals and an unspoken trust in change.
Originally from Long Island, Grossman underwent a migration of her own a few years ago. She and her husband lived the snowbird life—ferrying between north and south with the seasons—Living on Anna Maria Island until their forever home was built in Palma Sola in 2018. “I traded one island for another,” she said with her characteristic ease, as though change were less a disruption than a continuation.
Today, Grossman is a full-time artist specializing in the delicate craft of glass mosaics. But her path there was anything but singular. Guided by a perennial curiosity, she flexed her creative muscles early as a window display designer for Macy’s before pivoting to a career in aerospace. When her son was born, she transitioned again, this time to creating upcycled, bespoke teddy bears for a family-owned company. What began as a part-time role quickly grew into something much larger.
She later became a master gardener, spending many years in gardening and landscape design until an injury forced her to hang up her shears earlier than she had hoped. The physical limits that closed one chapter ultimately redirected her toward art, where her instinct for pattern, patience, and transformation found a new and lasting form.
Grossman has the rare ability to view the close of a phase through a lens of serendipitous opportunity rather than mourning. It was a simple question from an Italian sculptor she met at the end of her gardening career, “What would you really love to do now?”, that prompted her to answer, “I’d love to draw and paint.” Thus began her journey into oil painting. Grossman trained classically in the discipline and discovered an immense talent that had remained largely untapped for much of her life.
Grossman’s oil painting became so accomplished that she was invited to teach beginners at an atelier in St. James, where she discovered a new love for teaching. “People were very intimidated by classical design and by the word ‘atelier,’” she said. “I thought, ‘no, I can teach you. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are. We can do this, and we can have fun!’”
That openness to discovery did not stop in the classroom. Grossman is a lifelong island-dweller who has always loved being surrounded by water, but it was the shift in color she experienced when she traded Long Island for the Gulf Coast that brought a new wave of inspiration to her work. It was during a sit-and-sip mosaics class that she discovered a vibrant new medium capable of capturing her growing fascination with the bright hues of her new home.
After learning the basics of mosaic-making in the course, Grossman continued to hone her skills on her own. Powered by a love of light and color, she began gravitating toward the more intricate and translucent medium of glass. She connected with a fellow artist who sold her scrap glass and converted her garage into a studio. As the pandemic took hold, Grossman suddenly found herself with the time and space to fully immerse herself in her newest pursuit.
Grossman likens her process of creating glass mosaics to assembling a jigsaw puzzle. She begins with a vision, sketching a design that serves as the foundation for the work, then cuts and shapes each piece of glass to fit her blueprint. It is her inherent curiosity, not just about imagery, but about the material itself, that guides the process and allows her to discover the distinct qualities of each piece of glass and how it can be used to realize her vision.
“Some glass will splinter for me,” she said. “If I’m creating feathers on a bird, I’ll use that natural quality. Other glass is iridescent. When you look at it one way it’s green, another it’s blue. I love that. If I’m making a dragonfly, the glass lets me create a transparent, iridescent wing. It’s impressionistic, but it’s still true to the nature of the subject.”
Grossman’s inspiration is as expansive as her interests. Alongside the natural forms that appear in her work, she draws deeply from literature, fables, and religious symbolism, returning again and again to stories that explore morality, wonder, and the human condition. In one piece, mirrored fragments are embedded to evoke the concept of eternity, inviting the viewer to quite literally see themselves within the work. In another, more than 60 animals are concealed among mountains and rivers, a meditation on balance and the interplay of yin and yang. Her pieces are not meant to be taken in at a glance. They ask the viewer to linger, interpret, and feel.
The piece that appears on this edition’s cover is inspired by Grossman’s love of literature. Titled A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the work depicts the Fairy Queen Titania embracing the hapless Nick Bottom, offering Grossman’s own wistful interpretation of Shakespeare’s playful meditation on illusion, desire, and metamorphosis. It is a theme that resonates beyond the work itself, and one that has quietly shaped the course of Grossman’s own life.
“I just kept going and going,” Grossman said of her winding creative journey. “Without sounding too hokey, a window always opened. A door always opened. Whenever a chapter was done, that new chapter was always there. And I’ve just been so fortunate because I’ve loved everything that I’ve done.”
Grossman’s work can be found in several locations in Manatee County. Smaller pieces are currently available at Blessed and Distressed, which will sadly be open for only a short time longer, as well as at Blue Flamingo, where an expanded selection of both small and large works will be available. Larger pieces can also be seen at Artist’s Haven on Holmes Beach. While her work can be viewed online on Instagram, @donnagrossmanpaints, the true character of her mosaics is best experienced in person, where light, texture, and reflection shift subtly with each step and lingering glance.