In The Kitchen with Donna Chamberlain

BY GINNY PRIVITAR
Donna Chamberlain is an award-winning artist, photographer, writer and snake wrangler. Yes, snake wrangler. Chamberlain would put Jack London to shame. This West Milford resident has a number of different jobs that employ her various talents. But art is her passion.
She is an award-winning artist who has won competitions at the St. Catherine Art Show in Ringwood. She’s worked in acrylics and mixed media and more recently her favorite works are her assemblages. Assemblage art has been described as the three-dimensional cousin of collage, where the artist arranges elements which project out of or from a substrate. Chamberlain’s assemblages vary from a depiction of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” made entirely out of jewelry, to amusing characters made out of items like kitchen utensils, a camera and other found objects.

Do you have a family member who has passed on? She’ll turn some of their items into art that is seen and appreciated, rather than being relegated to a drawer or box in storage. Or perhaps you took a memorable trip somewhere? “For instance,” Chamberlain said, “if someone has a drawer full of jewelry they’ll never wear, or kitchen utensils that belonged to someone they loved, I make something out of it. If they went to Paris or liked something, have pieces no longer used — I turn them into artwork.”
She’ll turn those items into an assemblage you can display — something that will bring back fond memories every time you look at it.
Chamberlain modestly describes her art as “just something I do. It’s a healthy way to occupy your brain… that’s the way I keep busy.” Art, finishing furniture, fixing things and more occupy her boundless energy.
Asked if she has many art works at home, Chamberlain said, “My home is certainly eclectic and I don’t take myself very seriously so I would say there’s an awful lot of stuff; a lot of vintage things and lots of paintings.” She also painted her floors “like folk art.”
Chamberlain said she was creative as a kid, and took some art classes in high school “because it was an easier subject to take.” She also learned photography and her work has been published, many of her photos have appeared here in the West Milford Messenger. Her favorite subject is wildlife.
Chamberlain used to write for The West Milford Messenger. She was doing a story and became familiar with West Milford Animal Control. Chamberlain said she’s always liked animals and had a fascination for reptiles.
Around the same time, her brother had a problem - three rattlesnakes had taken up residence in his yard. Chamberlain called several agencies seeking help for his predicament. She mentioned to one animal control person that their job sounded so interesting, working with animals. Two days later she got a call. “We have a rattlesnake here if you’d like to try capture and release with it. Meet me at the ambulance squad,” is how she retells it.
Chamberlain went and was introduced to a recently captured snake to train with. She said it took her a while to figure out why they wanted to meet at the ambulance squad. “Why are all these EMTs here?” she thought. It was in case things didn't go so well.
Chamberlain has been a snake removal volunteer for about four years now. She said she gets about three or four calls each summer. She uses two snake tongs to guide it into a bucket.
“It’s all about being calm and calming the snake down so it doesn’t bite you,” she said. “A lot of times there’s more than one snake and you have to take your time and be careful.”
When she’s not creating art or wrangling snakes, Chamberlain works as an office manager for a counseling agency.
She and her husband, Gene, have two children, a son, Noah, 20, and a daughter, MaggyRose, 18. And no, they don’t have snakes at home.
To contact Chamberlain, call her at 973-214-5871 or email her at chamberlain4@optimum.net.
Chamberlain is creative in the kitchen, too, and was kind enough to share a recipe with us. It’s not snake shish kebab, but a lovely Italian manicotti recipe.