Photo by Erin Nelson.
Danielle Portera describes the process and inspiration behind “First Communicant,” an acrylic painting with colored pencil detail, one of 13 pieces that portray her younger sister’s progression in life despite having Down Syndrome.
Danielle Portera’s senior art show at Samford University focused on beauty. In her younger sister Dominique, the lifelong Hoover resident found the perfect subject.
Dominique, 19, loves pageants and performing in theater, choir, cheerleading and the Diamond Dolls at Hoover High School.
“She loves to be in front of people,” their mom, Natalie Portera, said. “… If this one could wear a gown every day, she could.”
Dominique also has Down syndrome, which Danielle Portera, 22, said makes it hard for some people to see that beauty.
“She’s still beautiful regardless of her disability because it really is more about her personality and her love of life,” Danielle Portera said.
Natalie Portera said her older daughter preferred crayons to sports and other childhood activities even at an early age. She continued to create as she grew up, and Danielle Portera said she decided in high school that she wanted to continue studying art at Samford University.
Her favorite medium is oil paint, though she also works with colored pencil, acrylic paint and recently photography.
“The vibrancy of the layers, the way the light shines through is unparalleled to any other medium. It’s the messiest and most expensive, but the results tend to be worth it,” Danielle Portera said of oil painting.
She started creating her senior art show last November. The finished product was a series of 13 paintings and photographs of Dominique Portera at different stages of her life, from first communion and prom to photos taken on a sunny day at The Preserve.
“Everybody that came in there was emotional, it brought tears to your eyes,” Natalie Portera said.
The first painting in the show was a recreation of a photo their grandmother took of Dominique Portera at only 3 months old, 10 days after her heart surgery. The painting shows a baby girl with a large, still-bloody scar on her chest and tubes in her body laying on a baby blanket. While it’s a hard image to look at, it reminds the Porteras of how far they have come.
Natalie Portera recalled she didn’t want to have the photo taken at the time because she wanted to get the image of her daughter post-surgery out of her head. Nearly two decades later, it’s a valuable memory.
“We look at this, celebrate, we say, ‘Look, this is what you had to go through to be here,’” she said.
The Porteras celebrate Dominique’s “Heart-aversary” each year in August, on the date of her surgery “to be thankful we have another year with her, because with three holes in her heart if she would not have had the surgery, she wouldn’t have been here,” Natalie Portera said. She has a leaky valve that has to be monitored, but no other ongoing problems.
That baby blanket also played a part in Danielle Portera’s art show, as she laid it out with several of her sister’s Alabama Angels pageant crowns to show the person she has grown into.
Other pieces in the art show capture Dominique Portera’s personality, including a painting of her with her boyfriend at prom. Natalie Portera said her daughter knows someone almost everywhere she goes.
Photo by Erin Nelson.
Danielle Portera, a soon-to-be graduate of Samford University with a bachelor’s in fine arts, holds her piece, “Sparkle,” an acrylic and oil paint portrait on canvas, one of 13 pieces featured in her senior art show that portray her younger sister’s progression in life despite having Down syndrome, at the Hoover Public Library.
In addition to her many extracurriculars at Hoover High, Dominique Portera also works at Stone Salon and is talented at braiding hair. Her mother said the family had to fight to get her into some classes with typical peers instead of just special education classes. It’s been worth it, Natalie Portera said, both because she has learned more than they thought possible and because of the many friends she has made.
“I want her to be the best she could be, push her a little harder,” Natalie Portera said.
Those friends “have been some of the best kids,” she said.
Danielle Portera said her sister is aware she has Down syndrome, but “she doesn’t let that get in her way” when she wants to achieve something.
The pair have a typical “love-hate” sister relationship, their mother said. Even if they sometimes argue, Danielle Portera said Dominique will send her texts throughout the day with messages of love.
“She finds a way to talk to me every day,” Danielle Portera said.
The final piece in the art show was also Danielle Portera’s favorite: an oil painting of Dominique in a pageant dress and crown. At the show, Dominique Portera sat underneath the painting and talked to visitors to bring her personality from the artwork into real life.
“That was the best for me, to see it all up and to see her there with it,” Danielle Portera said.
Now that both sisters have graduated, Danielle Portera hopes to build a career selling artwork and portrait commissions, and their mother said Dominique has applied to Unless U, a continuing education program for adults with developmental disabilities, and will continue working at the salon.
Natalie Portera said raising a daughter with Down syndrome has changed not only her life and Danielle’s, but also the many people Dominique has befriended over the years.
“It’s changed everyone that’s met her because there was a different me before her,” Natalie Portera said. “… Typically, society doesn’t view an individual with a disability as a beautiful person, but everybody has beauty and worth.”
