Cory Bilicko
Culture Writer
Considering that both her maternal and paternal grandfathers served on the Signal Hill City Council and that she now owns the home that her grandparents had built in 1940, Signal Hill artist Dyana Andersen has quite a legacy to follow.
Rather than retracing her grandfathers’ political footsteps, however, Andersen is making her mark in the hilltop city through her art and by preserving the family’s home.
Andersen received the People’s Choice Award at Friends of Signal Hill Cultural Arts’ Show & Sell 2008 art exhibition, and she was selected as the organization’s first Artist of the Quarter for 2009. Last month, her home at 3350 Gundry Avenue was awarded the Second Quarter Planning Commission Beautification Award.
Andersen, known primarily for her glass art, turned her love of that medium into a business six years ago. In 2006, her husband, Rick, built a studio in their home, at which time, she says, her business, Dynamic Glass, was born. The line includes unique and specialty-cut custom jewelry designs, wire-wrapped jewelry, art pieces, glass boxes, vessels, platters, bowls, and other glass techniques. In her jewelry, she uses sterling silver, as well as silver-plated and 14-karat-gold-filled components.
Having lived in her parents’ vacation home on Catalina for 10 years, Andersen maintains a connection to the island, and her pieces are available at various locations there. “There are five stores in Catalina that carry my glass— also the Catalina Island Museum and the general store at the Isthmus,” she said. “And one gift shop in Hawaii on the Big Island at the Hilton Hotel.”
When she left Catalina in 2000, she moved back to Signal Hill into her father’s rental home. The next year, she met her future husband Rick, and they were married on Catalina in August of 2003. “When my grandmother became ill, I purchased her home on Gundry and moved into the home February 28, 2011— the same day my grandmother passed away,” Andersen said.
Soon after, she and her husband went to work on the home. “We planted all new plants, had a new roof put on, and painted, which completely changed the look of the house,” she said.
The award recommendation presented by the City of Signal Hill Community Development Committee to the City’s planning commission for Andersen’s home states: “The award recognizes the beautification efforts that Rick and Dyana Andersen have invested and distinguishes their home as a charming and classically preserved residential home that has been in the family for many years.”
Those “many years” began when Andersen’s maternal grandfather, Frank Boone Vaughan, moved to Signal Hill with his wife Willie (Willa) Louise Stanley in 1939. Four years after building their home, Frank joined the Marines, in which he served until January 1946.
Before and after his military service, he worked for Douglas Aircraft, from which he retired in the late 1960s. “They had three daughters that were raised in this home,” Andersen said of the Gundry house. “Willa Duperay Vaughan Dulin (her mother), Diane Elizabeth Vaughan Dobson, and Patty Louise Vaughan Belknap.” Frank was on the City Council from 1953 to 1959, serving as mayor from April 1955 to April 1956.
“Also, my father’s dad, my grandfather Homer Roy Dulin, was on the City Council August 1937 to April 1938,” Andersen said. “He started his business in Signal Hill in 1933, which is still in the city and owned by my father, Ronald Homer Dulin.”
From the shops on the islands to her home on the hilltop, Andersen is making a name for herself and carrying on her family’s heritage. To view more of her art and learn more about her techniques, visit dynamicglassbydyana.com.
