Gallery With A Cause • Located in the New Mexico Cancer Center • Benefitting the NMCC Foundation
Please call gallery director Regina Held to arrange a private gallery tour, make a purchase, or ask any questions.
Biography
Diana Stauffer rekindled her passion for art following a career in journalism and corporate communications. She initially turned to soft pastel because of the medium’s luminosity and extensive, even exuberant color palette. Since late 2009, Diana has worked exclusively in oil, primarily because it’s a more mobile medium for her commitment to paint en plein air.
The romanticized and monumental works of 19th century artist Albert Bierstadt made Diana dream of living in the American West. But, Thomas Moran’s iconic views of Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks and his ability to so simply and completely capture that sense of place compelled her to move from New England to the Rocky Mountain West in 1972. Except for a brief professional assignment to Arizona, Diana has made her home in New Mexico.
Among the contemporary landscape painters admired by and influencing Diana are fellow Westerners Clyde Aspevig, Robert Kuester, and Matt Smith. Diana has studied individually or in a workshop setting with a variety of contemporary landscape painters. They include: Dave Ballew, Tom Blazier, Lorenzo Chavez, Bill Gallen, J. Waid Griffin, Michael Lynch, Richard McKinley, Julian Merrow-Smith, Kim Lordier, and Deborah Paris.
She has exhibited in group shows and juried events throughout New Mexico: In Albuquerque at the Albuquerque Arts Alliance, the Harwood Arts Center, Sumner & Dene Gallery, the New Mexico Art League, the Fine Arts Gallery, African American Performing Arts Center and Hispanic Arts Center at EXPO New Mexico, The New Mexico Cancer Center’s Gallery with a Cause, St. John’s Cathedral, South Broadway Cultural Center, and the City of Albuquerque Open Space Visitors Center; in Santa Fe at the Santa Fe Art Collector Gallery; in Taos at the Millicent Rogers Museum and Wilder-Nightingale Fine Art; in Madrid at Johnson’s of Madrid gallery; in Ruidoso at the Ruidoso Center for the Arts; in Socorro at Curious Crow Gallery; and private venues.
Diana holds a BA in Political Science from the University of New Mexico with minors in English and French.
Artist Statement
The clear high desert light and expansive vistas of New Mexico have become a perfect place to express my creative urges long suppressed by work obligations. The Land of Enchantment truly mesmerizes.
My desire as an oil painter is to capture the eternal visual and even sensory elements of the landscape in an exact moment in time. Stylistically I could be considered a realist painter, but, being in possession of self-dispensed artistic license I offer my “impressions” of particular locale.
New Mexico’s expansive skies have always caused me to feel a sort of breathlessness at their fleeting beauty. This transient sensation quickly requires a deep breath followed by an exhalation of absolute calm. I hope viewers feel both buoyancy and serenity when contemplating my work. Applying brush to canvas allows me to revisit the memory of place and fills me with gratitude that I was a witness to the fleeting magic. I am happy to share these efforts.
