It’s funny, how circular life can be. As a child I spent hours after school exploring the woods by our house in Clearwater, Florida–full of cactus, oak hammocks, and streams. Years later, when I returned to the states after living abroad in Iran and Venezuela, I was shocked by the lack of urgency to address global environmental issues. In 1985 I organized the first of twelve GlobeScope National Assemblies, in Portland, Oregon, to focus attention on the concept of Sustainable Development and global issues such as Climate Change. In 2016 we retired in Tempe, Arizona, only 4 hours away from my favorite destination in the United States — the Chiricahua Mountains. I’ve spent months there each year, watching wildlife and photographing nature in the Sonoran Desert foothills and Cave Creek Canyon. I became a ceramic artist to showcase the diversity and beauty that I have witnessed. I hope each sculpture brings joy and a deeper appreciation and understanding of nature. Plus, a percentage of all art sales at Friendship Village Studio events, such as the Christmas Art Fair on November 10-11, benefits the Alzheimer Association of Arizona.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Transforming clay into unique hand-built sculpture is my passion. Influenced by nature, each piece is shaped using the coil, pinch, and/or slab method. Originally from Florida, I grew up in an artistic household, encouraged by my mother—a watercolor, acrylic, and ceramic artist. However, my route to creating my own “Art” was rather circuitous.

I’ve had a variety of careers in the education, tourism, and sustainable development fields for both for-profit and non-profit organizations and directed our consulting firm.

However, travel has been my touchstone. I lived in Iran and Venezuela for over a decade while visiting countries throughout the world. Along the way I’ve had some amazing adventures, from riding my 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, I enriched my life with art, primarily photography and oil painting. While living in Portland, I furthered my artistic pursuits at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts. But it was our move to Arizona and visits to the Chiricahua Mountains that uncovered my love of clay.

Today I am a resident Ceramic Artist and Instructor at Friendship Village’s Art Studios in Tempe, Arizona. Through my business, Diane Delaney ClayNature, I offer:

• Bouquets—with vases full of bright flowers and fanciful spires, inspired by Dale Chihuly’s outdoor glass installations.

• Sculptures—How about a Green Heron hunting in the reeds of a backwater stream, or a harlequin-patterned Montezuma Quail standing watch on a rock?

• Totems—1-4 feet high free-standing sculptures threaded on top of each other over a metal rod fastened to a base. My Desert and SeaLife totems consist of 12-16 beautifully handcrafted, brightly colored, flora and fauna.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

My friend loves wildlife viewing, so we are off to the Chiricahua Mountains in the Southeastern corner of Arizona, about a 4-hour drive from Tempe. Dubbed “The Land of Standing-Up Rocks” by the Apache, Chiricahua’s iconic rhyolite pillars earned it national monument status back in 1924.

These otherworldly oddities—reminiscent of the orange-hued hoodoos of Utah’s Bryce Canyon—number in the thousand and were formed millions of years ago by a volcanic eruption 1,000 times more powerful than Mount St. Helens. Adding to the mystique, Chiricahua is the largest of Arizona’s “sky islands,” a prodigious mountain range that emerges from the desert like a hazy mirage. 

As spectacular as the National Monument is, we are first heading to the eastern entrance of the Chiricahua’s near the town of Portal, Arizona, which is best accessed off New Mexico 80 to Douglas, Arizona. Portal sits at the base of Cave Creek Canyon, which is our destination.

In 1920 a huge sign over the road read,” Welcome to Cave Creek the Yosemite of Arizona!” And, it is. The scenery is magnificent in all seasons. Huge Cottonwoods and Sycamores line the stream bed with maples, oaks, and junipers by their side. As the route gains altitude at over 8,000 feet, deciduous trees give way to spruce, firs, and Aspen.