Meet Donna Teresa Fasano | Artgineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Donna Teresa Fasano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Donna Teresa, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
“I have what I need.” This has been the balancing statement I repeat to myself if I feel overwhelmed by all the facets of being a full-time artgineer. When I start to have anxiety about all that isn’t getting done on my many lists, it’s tempting to think, “Oh, if I just had more (insert thing here), it would solve the problem!” More doesn’t always fix the core issue, but identifying resources, skills, helpful humans, and even rethinking a project’s materials and seeing if I can adapt and apply what I have on hand quiets my anxiety, allowing me to focus on problem-solving. This mindset often couples with my second most treasured motto: doing gets it done. I can’t even argue with motto #2!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I began my career in technical theatre, working at the Goodman and Steppenwolf in the city of Chicago, where I grew up. Folks familiar with prop design and set building fall into the “Artgineers” category, artistic problem solvers using an engineering perspective. I brought those skills with me as I traveled the world working for theatres in Greece, Mexico, and the Bahamas, finally returning to the States in Denver, Colorado. Just as my stateside career was gaining speed, the events of 9-11 were felt in the creative industry nationwide as the priority shifted from the arts to fund much-needed recovery. Adapting to the new landscape and finding work as a cashier at a natural grocery store to make ends meet was a surprise pivot but led to gaining a whole new skill set that introduced me to margin, cost of goods, inventory control, marketing, and customer service. For nearly 14 years, it was the “best business school someone paid me to attend.” But it didn’t satisfy my inner artgineer. I began to look into options to take my idea of a word puzzle and develop it as a functional art meets clever game. After a few years of prototyping and small-scale art shows, I left general retail and brought those lessons to start my full-time business, Donna Diddit. The name was a response to the reaction I have often heard from years of artgineering: you did this?!
As a CIS gender female in the design and fabrication world, I was frequently underestimated, once even being misgendered on my payroll stub because the French-owned company I worked for at the time didn’t have the feminine form of my job available. Designing and handcrafting the Lots-O-Letters™ Word Puzzle became my core offering, traveling nationwide to juried art shows and getting better at refining my version of ‘art and smart.’ As I realized I invented an entirely new hybrid of word games and puzzles, COVID-19 brought a new need to pivot my career once more as travel and live art shows paused for nearly a year and a half. I dug into e-commerce, developing a How to Play video and an online shop to entice at-home game players who craved something clever. I rebranded as The Owl and The Hourglass and focused my marketing on ‘Reward the Curious Mind™.’ I also took the technical skills I had learned over my career. I volunteered time with a not-for-profit to support my community of traveling artists in accessing financial assistance to weather the lockdown. I spent many hours moderating, marketing, and fostering a diverse community of artists online to help market their work and stay in touch with loyal patrons through social media. Since resuming live events, I have a demo game for patrons. My favorite response is, ‘I love this! I’ve never seen anything like this!’ My challenge, now, is to develop a game that can be licensed for distribution. This new business level requires patents, graphics, play testing, and marketing. In search of resources for that next step, in 2024, I became a member of the Women in Toys, Licensing, and Entertainment (WiT), a 501C-3 non-profit that helps bolster the network of women in the gaming community. I am still a bit in shock to be a WiT 2024 Wonder Women Awards Finalist in the Indie Designer/Inventor Small Business/Entrepreneur category. Nominees in other categories include folks working with Wizards of the Coast (publisher of DnD), Disney, Lego, Mattel, Hasbro, so the nod to an artgineer working out of her home studio is wild. I will travel to L.A. on September 13th for the awards gala and will be cheering on all my fellow finalists. I am also thrilled to be working with the Denver Art Museum to design and create playful, interactive pieces in the Family Studio for their upcoming exhibit opening in October, Where the Wild Things Are: The Art of Maurice Sendak.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Day One: Denver Public Art Walking Tour- self guided or guided. Get to know the city’s quirky artistic side. Pick up a free Westword newspaper (Wednesday is the weekly update) for more art showings. In town on a first Friday? Head to the Santa Fe Art District or RiNO and spend the evening strolling with galleries galore.
Day Two: Bike trails! Hop on a e-bike and make your way to Union Station to feast on food and architecture! Stoic & Genuine has an oyster flight that is one of the best in the city, and there is always something happening around the area. Zoom over to Confluence Park where the REI flagship store, Aquarium, and the meeting up of the Platte River and Cherry Creek can all be found. Market and Larimer St have independent shops, but if you go just a little further to 22nd and Market, make Matter Bookshop your go-to. Design heaven, Black and Woman owned independent bookshop, and catch them on Thursday night for a letterpress hangout and print session.
Day Three: South Broadway. Indie and proud of it. Let’s get over to Mutiny Info Cafe for coffee, books, manga, and pinball. Punk rock and not to be missed. Local music is everywhere along SoBo: Skylark Lounge, Roxy, Hi-Dive, Herman’s Hideaway. For food that also rocks: MAKFam Hong-Kong style street and comfort food. Ti Cafe has Vietnamese coffee for a pickmeup. Sewn is the quirkiest clothing shop around with Goldmine Vintage and Boss Vintage close by for treasures Broadway is well connected via the bike route, so walking or biking along here will yield no lack of places to stop and investigate.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to Amy and Doug Yetman and the event staff of the Horseshoe Craft & Flea Market for giving my first show opportunity in Denver, 2011, and building a community of artists that have come together as the years and shows built up careers.

Website: https://owlandhourglass.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/owlandhourglass/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owlandhourglass/

Image Credits
Donna Teresa Fasano