Mission
The beauty of a raindrop. The reflections on bottles. The fun of LEGOs. My paintings tell stories of the ordinary in our lives. My passion, my mission, is to put on canvas the beauty and texture of the world around us. Each of my paintings is personal and unique, depicting moments of my life, or our shared environment. Sometimes my paintings are about personal healing. Sometimes about family memories. Sometimes about honoring life. Painting for me is a type of prayer. And my hope is that people see the world differently because of my work.
About Dianne
Through my work, I seek to find harmony and structure in the complexities of life. I work slowly and patiently, painting the intricate shapes that allow me to tell stories or relate memories from my youth.
Art that reveals something about humanity, that speaks to the mysteries of life, that asks questions only to uncover yet more questions, is powerful. In my work, I strive to find the spirituality and beauty in the ordinary, the things we take for granted. My work is a puzzle of little bits of color that become bigger shapes that finally reveal the whole.
I spent much of my childhood daydreaming and alone. An elementary teacher noticed my artistic ability, which led to art instruction on Saturday afternoons in a small class of adults. I was 7. My deepest memory of that time was the welcoming smells of paint, linseed oil, and retouch varnish. It was a safe place that filled my dreams with the desire to become an artist.
Though I was granted a full-ride scholarship to art school, life sidetracked my dream. It wasn’t until 1994 that I was finally able to return to my roots and embrace my passion and paint. I enrolled in classes at the Art Students League of Denver and honed my skills. Art is a marathon. It takes time to develop and discover your voice. But with time, I learned I am a patient artist, which explains why I am drawn to the myriad complex small shapes that often appear in my work.
Each day, I am grateful to live my dream. And, I still love the smell of paint.
Dianne Massey Dunbar has been painting professionally since 1999. She has participated in numerous national exhibitions including the Coors Western Art Exhibit, Denver, and the American Masters Exhibition, New York City. Her many awards include the 2021 Western Art & Architecture Award of Excellence, Coors Western Art Exhibit; 2013 Master Category Silver Medal Award, American Women Artists National Exhibition; 2007 Best of Show, Oil Painters of America Central Regional Exhibition; and the 2007 Silver Medal Award, Oil Painters of America National Exhibition.
In 2010, she was honored with a one-woman exhibition Painting the Ordinary, at the Byers/Evans House Museum, Denver. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines, as well as the book, “Painted Sky: 106 Artists of the Rocky Mountain West,” (E. Ashley Rooney, December 2015). She is a Master Signature Member of American Women Artists and Signature Member of Oil Painters of America.
