Featured Artist Diane Salamon

With a mission to bring a sense of peace and hope to her audience, artist Diane Salamon imbues her paintings with layers of color, pattern and written messages. Enjoy more of her work by visiting her website.

 

 

My birthplace is Mankato, Minnesota. While growing up I lived in many areas of the United States, which exposed me to a variety of different cultures, ideas and interesting people. As a young adult, my husband and I made Tulsa, Oklahoma, our home where we raised our two daughters.

 

 

My journey to become an artist was complicated by life circumstances. At the age of eighteen, I accepted a position at a utility company in El Paso, Texas. Luckily for me, the benefits included a college tuition program for business, and I graduated magna cum laude with a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at El Paso.

 

 

However, my first loves have always been art and music and as a child, I drew constantly and loved piano.

 

 

When I was in my early thirties, I was diagnosed with an eye disease called keratoconus which made me reevaluate what I wanted to do with my life while I could still see. I took classes in drawing and painting at local colleges, museums, and workshops, and the world of art unfolded for me.

 

 

I am one of the fortunate ones, for my eye disease stabilized after many years of struggle and lots of prayer. Due to good medical care and a successful eye surgery, my vision today is better than when I was a child.

 

 

Although I am extremely grateful for the improved vision and the end of discomfort and eye pain, I think vision is secondary to what my work means to me and conveys to viewers.

 

 

Through my work, I seek to bring balance and harmony to our complex lives and often dangerous world. I start my paintings with layers of color, patterns, written ideas or prayers. The underpainting represents the complexity and confusion of our world.

 

 

My next step involves organizing the underpainting to a manageable (and hopefully) beautiful conclusion that will bring a sense of peacefulness and ease to the viewer.

 

 

The painting process brings great peace to my soul. My favorite medium is acrylic due to its working flexibility. It dries quickly, can be used on many different surfaces, and can be painted using techniques for watercolor or oil without toxic fumes.

 

 

Many honors have come my way in the art world. I have exhibited extensively throughout the United States. I have signature memberships in the Southwestern Watercolor Society and Oklahoma Watercolor Society. During Oklahoma’s centennial year, I was honored to be selected to paint an exhibition I entitled “Oklahoma in Abstract” which hung at the State Capitol.

 

 

My work is in many collections including the Official State Art Collection of Oklahoma. I am a member of the National Association of Women Artists, New York, and I am listed in the “Clara Database” of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. I also serve on the board as treasurer for Living Arts of Tulsa. My work is exhibited at Eva Reynolds Fine Art, Kansas City, and Pierson Art Gallery, Tulsa.

 

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