Diane Stark Gronewold

While growing up on my family farm, I was always surrounded by the intriguing beauty of everything nature has available to us. While looking closely at the layering of these colors and textures, and imagining what it might be like to see the world through the eyes of the various creatures that fly and crawl around, my mind could take me ANYWHERE! When I create my artwork, I not only show the beauty of nature, but what might be happening in and around the subject matter, that our “rational” couldn’t possibly believe is happening! This means that you can often find hidden “surprises” in my work! I also often incorporate this concept into my work by having sections of my art show a closer look of what might be found in and under what is visible on the surface. This also relates to the fact that many times we don’t really know a person until we get a glimpse of their “inner self”, and sometimes these unique qualities are not what we expect. Many times in my artwork I also explore the mysterious effect that occurs when areas of sight are distorted or even absent. This came about when my father developed macular degeneration that created blindness in the center of his vision.

Every day I continue to explore everything around me and wonder “what if”?!? It is also quite intriguing how some of my unexpected occurrences just seem to show up intuitively. Maybe these things are really happening, but most people just can’t believe it – so they don’t see it?!?

Diane Stark Gronewold received her Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She then earned a Masters of Art Education Degree from the University of Minnesota. She has recently retired from teaching Art for 42 years, with her last assignment being at Anoka High School. She also minored in music and has been a church musician for many years, and is currently the organist, pianist, and music coordinator at the United Methodist Church in Anoka.

Diane has a studio in her home and is continuously examining and creating, in her own unique way, a constantly evolving body of artwork that focuses on the peaceful, yet surprising things our natural world may have to offer!