"When I sit at my table in front of a blank shade or my lighted easel with a chandelier, all thoughts leave me. With no sense of time or place, I just begin to paint. Often I am the one most surprised when I see the finished glass. I feel that I have given myself to a greater power. I really did not do the painting, but instead allowed my higher consciousness to flow." - Ulla Darni
Since early life in Denmark , Ms. Darni has been immersed in the Arts. She trained and painted with Royal Copenhagen Porcelain and it was here that her disciplined brush strokes were born. This was followed with a seven year film and theater career that included a co-starring role in “The Duel”, a Cannes Film Festival First Price winner.
Ms. Darni left Denmark and the entertainment world to raise her young family in New York City . However, her creativeness soon found expression in fashion design. Two “Ulla Darni of Denmark ” boutiques successfully offered her unique flowing dresses and it appeared as though the world of high fashion would be her creative home; but the deeply planted seed of painting called for growth and expression. She continued her studies with David Lefell at the Art Student League in New York and refined her skills under the tutelage of Albert Handel, Daniel Green and others.
Ulla’s pastels and oils on canvas gained immediate recognition. Her work was awarded prizes and was acquired by collectors. She was elected to both of New York City ’s prestigious art clubs, the Salmagundi Club and the Pen & Brush Club.
A quirk of fate brought glass to Ms. Darni in 1989. An antique dealer presented her with an old Handel lamp blank and asked if she could paint flowers on it. She accepted the challenge and later discovered that this work had been sold by the dealer at a significant price. The concept of creating hand painted lamp shades on bases of her design was born. Ms. Darni designed the forms of glass, the metal and the graceful flowers that took life on her lamps.
The “ULLA” lamps were a resounding success. Royalty, museums and celebrities enjoyed the pleasure of her joy bringing work. Order for her lamps kept her painting seven days a week for years. When she added chandeliers and sconces to her repertoire, success demanded expansion
In 1996, Ms. Darni created her “Multiple Original” grouping of designs for lamps and chandeliers. Painters she trained meticulously reproduced her patterns on glass and her Catskill mountain atelier was built. Today, in the quite of the mountains, her team of skilled painters completes work that is bound for galleries throughout the United States .
Ms. Darni’s own work is a study in evolution. Over time, her floral bouquets have become more intricate and her color palette has intensified. Abstract compositions and whirling patterns, reminiscent of ancient petroglyphs have found their way into her work. AS her meditations on life and Creation have deepened, her forms and colors have become the expression of that depth. Both the bowl and cone forms of her chandeliers and large panels of flat glass have become her preferred canvas.
In her prayers and meditations, she asks to create flowers from other worlds and forms from other dimensions. She believes that her spirit is guided and that she received answers as her work unfolds. “One-of-a-kind” life forms evolve as Ulla’s brushes dance on the glass. Her personal, intimate dialogue within spawns imagery and colors that inspire and excite all who view her work.
-Best of New York ; Impressions in Continuity, Third Edition, pg. 84-85
