Diana
My blogs
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Industry | Arts |
| Location | France |
| Introduction | Diana's work in sculpture, puppetry and performance has been exhibited and performed in galleries and theatres across the US and Europe. Her work is informed by a strong engagement with the natural world, cultural history and mythology. Diana is the recipient of exhibition awards, grants and fellowships for her work in sculpture, performance, writing and music. Several of her grants have been awarded for residencies and cultural exchange in countries as diverse as Poland, Cuba and France. She holds a fine arts degree with honors from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her teaching experience includes Waldorf kindergarten, an associate professorship in art appreciation and history, museum workshops and classes in sculpture. Her work is found in private collections in the US and Europe and in the collections of the White House and National Gallery of Poland. From 2003-2008 Diana worked with the nationally recognized design studio Applied Imagination creating "botanical architecture" and installations at venues around the US such as the New York Botanical Garden and the National Botanical Garden. Diana currently resides in France and spends much of her time living on the road. |
| Interests | Art and artists of many kinds, travel, literature, cultural history, yoga, cathedrals, carnivorous plants, marionettes, toy theatres, art history, shadow puppets, alchemy, nomads, archaeology, cats, costumes, bohemians, architecture, twig furniture, history of photography and film, magic lanterns, goats, owls, crows, traditional dance and music of many cultures, guitars, horses, language of symbols, the moon, stop motion animation, vintage optical toys, paper making, sheep keeping, wool spinning, felt, beekeeping, herbs and herbals, gardens, pressed plants, rocks and minerals, fairy tales, world mythology, languages and linguistics, fantasy and science fiction, jewelry making, birds, foxes, metalsmithing, middle ages and renaissance, vegetarianism and veganism, folk and outsider art, making something from nothing, musical instruments, hedgehogs and hedgerows, caravans and yurts, natural science, Victorian era nature crafts and shadowboxes, art nouveau, fossils, bonsai, arts and crafts movement, esoterica, rust, mica, ancient glass, objects with the romantic patina of age and decrepitude, miniatures, seaweed and shells, the ocean, magique, surrealism, witches, dada, pre-Raphaelites, Vali Myers, red hair, Jane Morris’ hair, early spring, snow, mountains, hiking, woodcuts, children’s book illustrations, illuminated manuscripts, Victorian woven hair jewelry, quilts and patches, paper silhouettes, rainy days, raku, animals of all kinds, cave art and caves, altered states of consciousness, automata, firelight and candles, donkeys, shadows, the night sky, cabinets of curiosities, Japanese aesthetics. |
| Favorite Movies | Georges Melies, Julie Taymor, Lotte Reininger, Jean Cocteau, Harry Smith, Jim Jarmusch, Alfred Hitchcock, Tim Burton, Michel Gondry, Maya Deren, Jan Svankmejer, Quay Brothers, Ladislaw Starewicz, Federico Fellini, Harold and Maude, Nosferatu, Orlando, Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, Bell Book and Candle, Vertigo, Blood Tea and Red String, Pan’s Labyrinth, La Strada, Science of Sleep, Fall of the House of Usher (silent version), Hammer Horror, stop motion animation, silent films, The Elephant Man |
| Favorite Music | traditional music of the world especially North Africa/the Middle East/Central and Eastern Europe, gamelan orchestra, throat singing, klesmer, Manouche swing, Flamenco, Celtic, classical Indian, Elizabethan music, ancient music, Handel, Samuel Barber, Henry Purcell, Holst, John Cage, Dead Can Dance, The Cure, Patti Smith, Tori Amos, Rasputina, Pixies, Bjork, Fever Ray, early punk and goth. |
| Favorite Books | art history and theory, science, archaeology, history, Beat poetry, French symbolist poetry, T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, Dylan Thomas, John Donne, Ted Hughes--poetry and essays, John Crowley’s books of fantasy--especially Little Big and Engine Summer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Oscar Wilde, Kafka, John Bellairs’ books for young readers--especially The House With a Clock in Its Walls, Susanna Clarke’s Ladies of Grace Adieu and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Herman Hesse, Neal Gaiman, Phillip Pullman, the Narnia books, Beatrix Potter, Shakespeare, Tim Powers |