Diane Keane
Much of my art over the years can trace its source to my Roman Catholic upbringing, which has left me with both positive and negative memories. The architecture and ambience of the immigrant-built church of my childhood (rather than religious dogma) offered my first experience of awe: soaring pillars in a vast space, the still mystery of statues and the magic of flickering candle flames.
I love making collage and assemblage art. Assemblage boxes can recapture for me that sense of magical space even at a miniature scale. Images and objects that reference the past enrich the work with their associations of other times, places and persons, real or imagined. My intent, as with all artists, is to invite a dialogue between my art and the viewer. Within the frame or box, I try to capture something that is both recognizable yet mysterious, and entice the viewer to enter, respond and remember.
I feel that mystery is at the heart of the human experience, in spite of our never-ending attempts to define, judge, conquer and control. It is mystery that fires the artistic imagination: What would that look like? How can I make something to express this? Creation is the only way to find out. Perhaps that’s what the great Creator had in mind?
I was born and raised in Turtle Creek, PA, not far from Pittsburgh. I attended CMU as a graphic design major but did not graduate. I worked in the commercial art field after obtaining a certificate from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1982. In the 1980s, I began exhibiting assemblage boxes and hand-made paper pieces at various venues around the city.
From early 1991 through 1999 I lived in Germany and continued to pursue my art while working a civilian office job with the U.S. Army, and exhibited work in Germany and London, England. I returned to this area in 2000 but and spent most of the next decade as a busy home-owner, caregiver to my elderly mother, and full-time office employee (the graphic arts field having become digital during my absence.)
In April of 2010, I began a collage-a-day project to honor my 60th year. I created a blog, Collagitation, which is still extant, to post my collages online. I now post work primarily on Instagram, and a few other image sites. I am a member of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Society of Artists, as well as the Calligraphy Guild of Pittsburgh.
I retired in 2017 and now devote most of my time to art-making.
