State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca, N.Y.

Members of the Gallery

Diane Newton

View of Loretto, Pennsylvania, pastel, 22"x60"

Virginia, View from Fourth Floor, 44"x30"

Generally, I make drawings of landscape in pastel--soft pastel and oil pastel. My work in soft pastel is large--on black Arches paper. My drawings in oil pastel are smaller--on prepared watercolor paper. I work from photographs I have taken from nearly every place I have been. I am attracted to landscape because of elements that seem neighborly or aberrant or mysterious -- a landscape that has the potential to become a drawing like one I have never quite seen before and one I want to share with others.

I call these works drawings because, after time spent both drawing and painting, I find the process of making these pictures more akin to drawing. The medium, however, is technically closer to that of painting rather than traditional drawing materials. The basis of pastels -- both soft and oil -- is the same sort of permanent pigments used in the manufacture of oil, acrylic and watercolor paints. Pastels, properly framed under glass and well cared for, are permanent works of art. The medium dates back to the eighteenth century and it is said, pastel paintings of the time -- mainly portraits -- look as pure in color as when they were made.

I came to Ithaca from the Midwest where I was educated (University of Nebraska: BFA in education, 1969; Wichita State University, MFA in painting and drawing, 1980) and worked as a photographer’s assistant and taught art. Since coming to Ithaca, I have, among other things, studied Czech for two years at Cornell and become a member of a steadfast group of eight artists who meet periodically for critiques in which we discuss our work. Presently, I show my work at State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, and Blink in Andes, New York. In addition, my work has been shown at the Upstairs Gallery and Artifax, also in Ithaca; Chase Gallery, Boston, Robischon Gallery, Denver, and Reuben Saunders Gallery, Wichita, Kansas.

View of America/3-20-2003, pastel, 30"x44"