Diane Stapleton

About Me

Exploring experimenting, getting my hands dirty, and making big messes that magically turn into meaningful artwork, that’s what lights me up. Even through the frustration of working through and accepting the first stages of what seems like the ugliest thing on the planet, it’s important to trust the process and move forward.

A few years ago I took a leap of faith and embraced the uncertainty and adventure of abstract art. It’s important to me that my process be a mirror of life in general — unpredictable, uncertain but always moving forward, everything amounting to that which is beneficial for life and work. Most of my work is inspired by the seemingly mundane aspects of things we are very familiar with — lines painted in the street, cracks in parking lots, surfaces that are often rough, gritty. My work begins with the simplicity of what catches my eye. In the beginning I don’t always know why. That works itself out as a painting develops. By the time a painting is done, it’s rolled around in my mind and polished itself into a statement that means something to me, and may provoke a line of questioning by the viewer.

I have made many really terrible paintings and painted over them in order to ge to the work that can come only from me. Gradually, and with a lot of coaxing, the work shifts before my eyes into something that makes me feel like I have created something that someone else might find beautiful, intriguing and meaningful.

Fellowship Student, Crealdé School of Art, Winter Park, FL

2017-2021

Nickelodeon

1990 – 1993