Artist's Statement
It wasn't until my freshman year of college that I had my first art experience - in a fine arts class where we spent one afternoon sketching outdoors. Dressed in a skirt and strappy little sandals I walked to a nearby woods, sat on the ground and drew the trees. The sketches are lost to time but not my memory of making them, how exhilarated I felt. It would be another twenty-five years before I picked up a sketch book.
As I worked my way through a nursing career that took me from emergency room staff nurse to national speaker to private practice as a healing facilitator, I devoted hours to encouraging others to open to their creative spirit. It is one of the most life giving things you can do to support your healing process, I would advise clients dealing with cancer and other life-threatening health challenges.
As a mother I went to any length to see to it that my two daughters studied art. Whenever I took them to the Minneapolis Art Institute for a class I walked through the painting exhibits, soaking up something which fed every fiber of my being.
Then one day, after my youngest daughter went off to college, I was sitting in the office of a spiritual director. She asked me a simple question, "Do you have any hobbies?" I was silent for a moment then burst into tears, "I want to paint," I stammered. Even as I was speaking I had no idea where those words came from. Yet I felt them deep inside. It took a few more years and a health crisis of my own before I stepped across a threshold, picked up a paint brush and began teaching myself to paint in earnest.
Along the way I fell in love with the art of Matisse as well as two contemporary painters: Hessam Abrishami, and Robert Burridge. I soon discovered that what I most wanted to do was make abstract paintings - ones filled with images that were layered, spontaneous, full of color and expression .
I am inspired by the storytelling in my rural culture and from the years of working with clients and students. These are simple stories, many dealing with hardship and the way through it. Mythology is another inspiration. I like to incorporate symbols - birds, barns, doors, windows, for example, and simple geometric structures - into my work. A painting feels right to me when it emanates a sense of Aliveness.
There is a saying that originates in Native American tradition and it is that we are each born with a song in our soul. Our life's journey is to discover that song and then give it away. The Art of Joy. I like to think of my paintings as expressing a moment of Soul Song; Light, Joy, Aliveness, Transcendence, Freedom - these are predominate themes in my work. So, to you dear observer, I invite you to discover your own meaning and to perhaps connect with your own Soul Song as you view these paintings.
In Love, Light and Peace,
Diane Amer