People Profiles
Artist in Oils, West Coast Woman
Massage & Body Work Therapist
Shaman, Artist in Oils & Glass, Crop Circle Researcher
West Coast Woman
May she live long; may she prosper
As dawn arrives she lights her fire
puts the kettle on
waits for tea
Turns on Mozart
or Beethoven
or Tchaikovsky
Paint brush poised
she stirs oils into creation
on that high little table of hers
a work-a-day altar to canvases complete
dripping with years and years of of colour memory
Paint dripped table
tea in hand
she follows her brush into canvas
like an orchestra behind a conductor's wand
Diana's hands have a life of their own
a way of holding things, of touching, of moving
a precision, a dance, a certitude always questing
She plays the cello and the piano
She awakens to every day in her studio
a paint mounded table beside her
classical music vibrating around her
and the rest of her home
the many rooms
the kitchen
the world
waits
Copyright 2006 aRA Miles — Spaces Between Things. All Rights Reserved.
In the Studio with Diana Dean
Every day of her life, unless she's travelling, Diana is in her studio by crack of dawn or earlier.
You are facing the southeast corner of her studio. Out of sight to your right is her easel,
behind you are rack on rack of finished paintings, and to the left is her wood stove and a pot of tea.
The paintings you see are finished pieces ready to be shipped to the Loch Gallery in Toronto for Diana's latest show.
Hear more about Diana Dean
Her Life, Her Work.
Click Player Buttons Below to Control Sound
Visionary Artists in Oils
Unprecented beauty. Alex paints from the inside out.
Visionary Artists in Other Mediums
Click on paintings to access Diana's website.
Check out a favourite of mine called "Grand-father Weeping."
Click on "Pre 2000."
Click on 1998.
You'll be surprised.
A powerful story;
dear to Earth's heart.
Diana Dean lives on Salt Spring Island in West Coast Canada.
You can visit her online gallery at: www.diandean.com
The poem on the left is a salute to Diana from a collection of poetry I've written called "West Coast Woman Web."
Diana Dean was born in South Africa and as a child ran into the veld and found rocks, big rocks, strong rocks to sit on. Already it was the light she was watching; already she was seeing/hearing stories.
She spent her teenage and young adult years in England attending art schools and searching for that perfect master who would teach her how to paint what she could see with her mind's eye. Later in life she did a Self Portrait of herself at the easel, called "Don't Come Between me and Rembrant." Diana has sought with all of her heart and with millions of brush strokes during all of her life, to paint the stories moving through her and out to the world.
I see Diana as a story teller. I love to spend time with her paintings and wander into each story she presents.
Diana is actually a mystical painter, but she's also very practical in her symbology. The spiritual essence of her work is always present, whether she's painting a bowl of fruit or an angel descending into every day life. I talk more about this in the audio file below.
Salt Spring Island presents a studio / home gallery tour every summer. Write Diana and tell her you want to visit her studio next summer. Write her... even if you haven't got the faintest clue how you're going to get there. — aRA Miles
Left: Angel of Ecstasy
Top: Isis Touching God
Bottom: Woman Lifting the Fog
Left: Entry of the Musicians
Right: Angel at Maxwell Lake
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Diana Dean
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to yours...
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