Diane G. Rolnick

Biography

Diane Rolnick was born in New York City where her art-loving grandmother took her to museums as soon as she could walk, encouraging her interest and knowledge of the arts at an early age. 

Her work develops from ideas that intermix stories and events from newspapers, personal biography, conversations, interactions, and interpretations of the world around us.  She enjoys experimenting with various media that might include, encaustic, digital, acrylic mediums, paint, pastels, and ink.

Diane has 2 degrees from Rhode Island School of Design, a BFA in Painting and a Masters in Art Teaching.  She lived in Italy for 2 years and later Boston, Philadelphia and the New York City metropolitan area before moving to New Mexico 15 years ago. 

Diane has shown her work extensively in the United States and is in private and corporate collections in the US, Europe, and Asia. Her more recent shows in Santa Fe include The Santa Fe Convention Center Community Gallery, and Zane Bennett Gallery. Other venues have included:  New Concept Gallery; The Wiford Gallery; The Governors Gallery; The Santa Fe Community College Gallery.  In September 2009 Diane’s encaustics were shown in "Pure Paint II" at the Henry Gregg Gallery in Brooklyn, New York.

As an instructor, Diane is passionate about talking and teaching how to
engage with the process of art.  Balancing freedom and control of the mediums and elements of art with personal and intuitive knowledge is the center of her teaching methodology. 

She currently lives in the East Mountains outside of Albuquerque, NM with her horse, Ziggy Starman; goats Finian, Rainbow, and Abbakiss; and Rooe and Cooper, her dogs.

Artist Statement

Growing up bombarded with images from television, movies, and advertisements, through the computer age and the Internet, I have observed how the outside world has often intruded and collided with my personal life. There are so many images and "noises" constantly directed  in a barrage towards the senses. I have been impelled to interact, react, and translate what I see and hear around me.

"Conversations" is a series that reflects memories, communications, and an ongoing dialog with myself and others. I began to focus more closely on human interactions as I observed and reacted to personal and world events. Included in my "conversations" are my exchanges and communications with my animal family.
My fervent curiosity allows me to continually investigate bits and pieces of human story. An obituary led me to a series of early films of the career and life of Bolshoi dancer and teacher Marina Semyonova. Watching the dancer become the teacher {but never leave the dance} led me to a new body of mixed-media work that celebrates a life of art and teaching.  Investing more time with computer and digital imagery in combination with acrylic mediums, pigment, and various media have allowed my ideas to wander into new venues with infinite possibilities.   

My art is an on-going exploration of my feelings, reactions, and points of view of living in our complex world today. As an artist my passions and interests are automatically translated into the visual realm. I love the exploration of finding a "suitable" world for my ideas.