Artful dentistry or dental artistry?

You may have seen the advertisement in the local paper. There is a black and white photograph of what appears to be a red-tailed hawk on a perch. The caption beneath it reads, "If your dentist can make a block of wood look this good, imagine what he can do with your teeth."

The photograph, as it turns out, is a hand-carved bird, literally out of a block of wood. This catchy advertisement was the brain-child of the wife of Dr. Mark DiBona, a local dentist. After seeing this advertisement it occurred to me that on the walls in DiBona's Exeter office are watercolor paintings.

DiBona has been my dentist for many years. I have always enjoyed the original art on the walls, but were these paintings also the work of my dentist? I decided to find out.

After meeting with DiBona I discovered he is a man of many talents. In high school DiBona joined the art club and in college he took a sculpture class. That is the extent of his "formal" training. But, growing up a lot of informal training went on in his family. His mother painted. His aunt, on his mother's side, was also a painter. His uncle, on his father's side, was an accomplished painter and still paints at the age of 92. His father in turn became a painter and a dentist.

In college DiBona decided he might like to pursue art as a career. His father's advice was to choose a career with which he could support himself and in turn his artistic interests. DiBona followed in his father's footsteps and became a dentist and a painter. But then he began to forge a path of his own.

After he married, DiBona left expensive paints behind and began woodworking. The supplies were relatively inexpensive for a young artist and were readily available. He learned everything out of books. As his daughters came along — he has three of them — he made things for them. Doll carriages, jewelry boxes and poster beds with carved headboards. "I have to be inspired, I mostly do it because it is fun. Sometimes I do it because people need things, like the beds or a bookcase," DiBona says. A story he shared with me was his daughter's need for a bookcase for college, but it needed to break down and fit in the back of his Volvo to be transported to and from school. It also needed to assemble easily. "I like the challenge," he states.

When he was growing up, art was happening around his house. So, while his daughters were growing up DiBona continued the artistic environment in his own home. His daughters are 22, 26 and 28 years old and all can do things artistically whether it be drawing, painting or jewelry making. His 28-year-old daughter has also followed in her father's footsteps as a dentist.

The DiBonas have a house in Waterville Valley, which functions as a livable gallery. Inside, on the banisters up the staircase to the second floor, perch a variety of hand carved birds. A chickadee sneaks a peek at passers-by, a woodpecker pecks a post, the red-tailed hawk (from the ad) peers at you with that predator glare.

"When my dog was a puppy he was afraid to go anywhere near that hawk," DiBona says with a laugh, "I think that is a pretty good critique."

His hand-carved birds have made an impression on his patients, too. One suggested that after a patient has $1,000 worth of dental work that he receive a hand-carved bird. (I would support that suggestion!)

Also, in his Waterville Valley home DiBona has his paintings. He has painted in watercolor, oils and now is working in acrylics and acrylics and oils together. His paintings tend to have outdoor themes, he says his wife is an outdoor enthusiast. He has pictures of eagles, moose, woods and farmhouses. He painted a picture of a roaring grizzly bear for his daughter's apartment. The view is so intense you can count the bear's teeth. His daughter can visit the painting at the house in Waterville Valley. It was "too scary" for her apartment so he painted her something else. DiBona's wood working passion also shows through in his paintings. Many have handmade frames that are sculptural in their own sense, made of raw wood, bark and leather.

DiBona seems to have a well balanced life. At work he must be neat, clean and organized. He says in his woodshop his wife jokes that he doesn't sweep the floor until the wood shavings are getting in his shoes. In his woodshop he has tools, but not organized by a hygienist on a dental tray. "But, I know where everything is," he says. "Art is part of dentistry, you have to know what looks good on a patient and what doesn't. But, dentistry has to be perfect, art is more laid-back and relaxing. With art I can experiment, if I don't like what I've made I can put it in the woodstove."

Currently, DiBona doesn't formally show his work, though he is beginning to consider it. He has recently been asked to put some of his pieces in a local Waterville Valley gallery. Are any of his pieces for sale? "My wife won't let me sell anything unless I make her another one just like it," he says smiling.

Vandy Duffy is a teaching artist and storyteller. She may be reached by e-mail at Areaarts@yahoo.com.