ARTIST STATEMENT

Transforming clay into unique hand-built sculpture is Diane’s passion. Originally from Florida, she lived in an artistic household, encouraged by her mother—a watercolor, acrylic, and ceramic artist.  However, Diane’s route to creating her own “Art” was rather circuitous.  

She has had a variety of careers in the education, tourism, and sustainable development fields for both for-profit and non-profit organizations and directed Applied Sustainability Enterprises. However, travel has been her touchstone. She lived in Iran and Venezuela for over a decade while visiting countries throughout the world—creating amazing adventures, from riding her Arab Stallion in the desert, being among the first travelers to enter Nepal, climbing Roraima Tepui, exploring the  Galapagos Islands and Amazon Basin, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, and taking a one-year jeep safari throughout South America.  

During this time, she enriched her life with art, primarily photography and oil painting. While living in Portland, she furthered her artistic pursuits at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts. But it was her move to Arizona and vacations in the Chiricahua Mountains, that uncovered her love of clay.  Through private instructions and classes at the Mesa Arts Center, she is creating nature-inspired sculptures layered with rich depths of color. Each piece is shaped using the coil, pinch, and/or slab method and fired to cone 6. The pieces can be displayed individually or stacked on a metal rod as a  fanciful, cheerful 1 – 5 foot “Totem,” for the garden, patio, or home.