By Krista Henneck


For enamelist Dan McCann, making one of his trademark light switch plates is like making a pizza.

“The metal is like the crust. The cheese and the pepperoni would be the different kinds of glass,” he says, pointing to one of his creations hung on the wall of booth No. 12 at Westerville’s 37th annual Music & Arts Festival in July at Heritage Park.
His voice seems to draw energy from his pieces as he explains the process, “For this one, I do a white base coat – white glass like white sand – fire it. Then I’ll do black glass on the top and I’ll take the back of a brush, of a little tiny paint brush, and scratch through.”

But like making a pizza, he can’t be sure how a piece will turn out until it cools.

“There are a lot of variables – how you apply the glass, how long it’s in the kiln, how hot it is. All these different things affect the recipe,” he says. “There’s a sense of wonder when a piece comes out. Is it a dud? Is it a homerun?”

Enameling may be like making a pizza, but it is also a lot like McCann’s life. Throughout the years, he has piled on layers of colorful adventures. Now, he is waiting to see how it will all turn out.

McCann was first introduced to enameling in the seventh grade, at Perry Middle School in Worthington, when he made a keychain and bracelet for his mother. In his 20s, he took classes at the Cultural Arts Center, calling it a “fun way to kill an evening.”
Soon, he says, it became “a hobby that got way out of control.” He began participating in festivals, and his work was displayed in art museums throughout the state.

But in 1989, his life took an unexpected turn when he traveled to Belize for a mission trip. Little did he know it would eventually become his new home.

For years, he returned to Belize whenever he had time off work. Then, after marrying a Belizean woman in 1992, he quit his job in property management and real estate and moved to Belize in 1994.

After living in Columbus for two years, he and his wife bought an old school bus, packed up their things and drove to Belize.
“We were like the Partridge family,” he says. “It took 16 days. That was an adventure that you never forget.”

Still living in Belize, McCann flies to the United States each year to participate in art shows – but he never knows what to expect.
“People don’t know how competitive it is,” he says. “You can’t predict from show to show or from year to year what your earnings will be.”

This year, Westerville’s festival received about 175 applications, but accepted only 115 artists to the juried portion of the show, says Lindsay Brown, event coordinator for the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce. Only 20 were accepted to Westerville Walkway, an area dedicated to civic service organizations and local artists, and 12 were stationed in the Heritage area, which features Colonial and American crafts presented by craftspeople in period costumes.

“A lot of people want to be involved in the show,” Brown says. “It’s prestigious.”

For years, McCann says he could not get into Westerville’s festival, even though his mother was on the committee. Last year, he finally broke through. And this was his second year participating in the event.

“The committee is always looking for quality – but also for things that are just a little different, that stand out.” Brown says. “He [McCann] works with a medium that not everybody manages. His art was interesting. It was unique.”

In fact, McCann’s pieces are so unique he has been unable to make two the same. It makes saying goodbye to his favorites that much harder.

“I don’t sell everything because sometimes it is too personal,” he says. In fact, the first day of Westerville’s festival, a woman from Yellow Springs bought what McCann called one of his best pieces of the year. “She walked up and she wasn’t messing around. She went, boom, ‘I want that one.’ ”

Although McCann makes jewelry and bowls in addition to light switch plates, customers seem to be most responsive to the switch plates. McCann even answers to the nickname Switch Boy. “It’s something in your house that usually nobody even notices, and then you dress it up,” he says. “It elevates something from boring and common to weird and special.”

Once festival season ends, McCann returns to Belize to spend time with his wife and two daughters. He also teaches art to Belizean children through an organization he and his wife started called Artreach Belize. This year, he says, the organization reached out to more than 3,000 children in 11 schools.

“My life has changed so much because of knowing how to do art,” he says. “Maybe it could even be a career for them.”
McCann doesn’t know whether he will remain in Belize. Like a piece of enameling just out of the kiln, McCann says he isn’t sure how his life will turn out until it’s done. But he seems to find excitement in uncertainty, both in life and in art.

“That part of it is a little bit of weird magic – waiting for it to cool off,” he says, smiling up at his wall of switch plates. “I love that magical part of it.”

Krista Henneck is a contributing writer for Westerville Magazine.