Diana Dunkley

Artist Statement

Diana Dunkley is a full-time artist working at Studio 3D in Lawrence, KS USA. She received a B.F.A. from the University of Kansas, with a double degree in Sculpture and Interior Design. Her work is shown and collected nationally and internationally, including exhibitions in Canada and Australia.

Dunkley’s resumé includes many collaborations, including one community-involving event after another. Not only has Dunkley had a hand in a large number of organizations and events that have brought local visual arts to community, she is also an active participant in multiple collaborative works with other artists. Dunkley is a Co-Founder of the Lawrence ArtWalk, the Lawrence Committee for the Advancement of the Visual Arts, Artel International, and consultant for many arts organizations and individuals. She was a recipient of the Phoenix Award for the Visual Arts, presented by the City of Lawrence and the Lawrence Arts Commission in 2003.

Most recently, Dunkley has artwork published in books by author David Hann, was included in the 1st Annual Remarque Gallery Print Exchange, Albuquerque, NM, and participated in an exhibition at the Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, Kansas USA, with the group, “The Pleiades Project: an International Art Collaboration”.

Bio

My artwork is diverse. I work and teach in mediums ranging from watercolor, drawing, and printmaking to conceptual and performative pieces, informing the work with collaboration, community interaction, psychogeography, and heterogeneity.

Conceptually, I research, manipulate, and layer the meanings and the dimensions of my artwork to suit my quirky sense of humor. I incorporate the viewpoint of the observer (my general experience of life) in my art, and often give a “voice” to the disturbing, darker side of things that contrasts nicely with my sense of whimsy.

I frequently name my pieces with titles that can only be spoken. They are titles that, if written, would only have one meaning, but if spoken, can have many, adding dimensions.

I am a committed Visual Artist Advocate, and have given presentations on it all over the world. I fight for the right of artists to be able to earn a living at their work and to be respected as professional, as opposed to be seen as simple entertainment.

I cannot imagine not being driven to create art, despite the frequent torture of the experience. The day I die I will be wishing I had time to create one more artwork!