Meet Diane G Rolnick | Digital Mixed-Media Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Diane G Rolnick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Diane G, why did you pursue a creative career?
As a very visual and curious child, I was lucky to have been born in New York City, one of the great art capitals of the world. My earliest memories at about 4 were painting a small piano in an artist’s basement studio and my grandmother and I ascending the long stairs in the great hall of the Metropolitan Museum where reaching the mezzanine level, I became mesmerized staring into the huge depths of the Jackson Pollacks, looking up at van Gogh’s bright sunflowers, and gazing at a bronzed Degas dancer on a pedestal. My entire being was at home in the arts. As a child with many health issues, I was home in bed more than other children and my mother provided all kinds of materials – drawing, building cardboard rooms, making puppets and more to entertain myself. When I was 8 years old, I ventured into a local dance studio and instantly knew I had to dance. My mother, taken by surprise, enrolled me and saw me through my time as a ballerina which included studying at the School of American Ballet in NYC every summer and the Andre Eglevsky Ballet during the year. As a member of the Andre Eglevsky Ballet Company, we performed all over the New York area. When my body gave out at 16, I had to leave the dance world and begrudgingly applied to art colleges at my mother’s request. I studied at Drexel Institute of Technology that had a small but fabulous art department and then Rhode Island School of Design, earning my BFA in Painting while taking my last year in Rome and exploring the art museums of Europe. I spent another year in Italy as an au pair in Ortonovo, a small village near Carrara taking care of a 5-year-old child, 5 cats and a dog, and living in an old barn with very little heat and loving the entire experience. Coming back to America after two years, I moved to Philadelphia, Boston, and then back to the New Year area, after earning a master’s in art teaching from RISD. I lived in Hoboken for 10 years until my childhood dream of moving out West brought me to New Mexico 28 years ago.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

What I have learned as a human being and artist with a long career in the arts is that we often circle around and redefine ideas at different times of our lives in a non-linear process depending on what we have seen, learned, and experienced at any given moment. I studied painting and drawing in school though I was always interested in mixed mediums because my ideas felt more defined if I had more choices of materials to “language” my work and have it be understood. I also, as a young artist, needed to develop my thoughts about living in the world and how I engaged with ideas that would become my work. My first works that I believe were important were a series called “Children in Peril”, based on the death of a young child, Lisa Steinberg, who was murdered by her illegally adopted father in NYC. Lisa’s expressive face stared out at me from the cover of the New York Post, and I knew I had to start with her story because it was so heart wrenching to my human heart.  The series concluded 10 years later and taught me how my passions and beliefs were fuel for my work.

When I moved out to New Mexico 28 years ago, time to I began a series of bodies made from wood, encaustic, and digital imagery that featured self-portraits, family members, and political figures.

In 2010 my mother was diagnosed with non-treatable bone cancer, and I found myself unable to work in the studio. I was living on a small ranchito outside of Albuquerque with a horse, 4 goats, and 2 dogs.  I began to hang out at dusk in the barnyard photographing shadows and shapes and experimenting with printing images on silk and other materials, layering them together. I created a blog about my daily life called “Abbakiss and the Artist”. Abbakiss was one of my Nubian goats and he and I had a special connection. My images led me to my current work as a digital mixed-media artist with a large format printer investigating ideas with various papers, silk, cotton, and substrates.

My interests today revolve around the interior/exterior complexities of humans (especially women) with our subtle nuances and expansive modes of expression, gesture, moment, action, interaction, and reaction which offer to me a sense of wonderment and curiosity. It is a dance that repeats itself on so many levels. Nature provides a blueprint for the cycles of our lives which I experience every day on my morning hikes with my dog Galyn, as I watch, growth, forms, decay, delay, delicate moments, and rebirth. As a good friend told me years ago, the dancer never leaves the dance.

Upcoming shows and events include:  FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona, Spain opening April 4th, where I received an Honorable Mention Award from the Julia Margaret Cameron Foundation; I was also chosen by the New Mexico Women in the Arts, an offshoot of the Women’s Museum in Washington DC, for an arranged studio visit for members also in April; in September I will be part of the Santa Fe Studio Tour, dates: 

TOURWEEKEND1– SAT Sept 21–SUN SEPT 22 – 11-5 PM, BETWEEN WEEK  Mon SEPT 23 –  Fri 27    By Appointment  WEEKEND 2 – SAT SEPT 28  11- 5 PM –  SUN 29 11-5PM  

I will always be available for studio visits, please contact me on my website.  https://www.dianerolnick.com 

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My first choice for Santa Fe dining would be Harry’s Road House on Old Las Vegas Hwy where everyone goes to eat a wonderful New Mexican meal and good prices. Another staple is Joe’s Diner with excellent food and comfortable booths. Anyone coming for the arts, I would suggest Site Santa Fe, Pie Projects, the new Vladem Contemporary Museum, and the Railyard Galleries.
Visiting for hiking and country life, I would suggest going up to Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch, and hiking the trails off Artist Road.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I must recognize that I had a family that loved me along all my paths as a creative, though they did not always understand me, but wished me the best: David and Anita Rolnick, my parents, my grandmother, Ottalie Popper Appel, my Aunt Bobbie, and my my sister, Lynn, and cousins, Barry and Bonnie. Today, my partner Bill helps with studio construction and cuts all my straight lines. I so value his skills and love. It is great to have an architect in the house!

I was also lucky to have teachers who were my mentors and gave so much of themselves to their students: Elliott Barowitz, Sylvia Clark, and Keith Newhouse, Drexel: Dr. Phyllis Kuffler, Stuart Diamond, Rhode Island School of Design.

Website: https://dianerolnick.com

Instagram: instagram.com/dianerolnick

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dgrolnick

Other: Abbakiss and the Artist Blog http://dgrolnick.blogspot.com/2012/

Image Credits
Credits for two images of me: Diane G Rolnick in Her Studio and Diane G Rolnick Speaking In her studio were shot by Kerry Kehoe Photography Credit for one image of me: Diane G Rolnick Me Closeup was shot by Bella Marie Marketing Maven