DIANE STAVER

“I made the move from the Chicago area to Indiana in the early 2000s. I studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Northern Illinois University. I enjoyed a fulfilling career as a college professor at the Art Institute of Indianapolis, where I had the pleasure of teaching traditional arts, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I have been painting and showing for many years.

My creative process & art styles

I don't use pencil or paper to create my concept work; I do everything digitally. With Photoshop and original digital photos, I combine, manipulate, merge, add, and eliminate areas until the final image emerges. Once satisfied, I use the completed digital image as a visual reference for a painting. In some cases, it remains as digital art.

My subject matter is mainly urban. I have explored urban buildings with display windows, merging the window content with the city's reflections. Sometimes, it is the inclusion of graffiti merged onto the building -- I've become a bit of a connoisseur of graffiti in central Indiana!

Lately, I have created a few paintings and digital art pieces that depict interiors rather than exteriors. But I manage to (digitally) add graffiti or street art to the interiors; nothing is safe from me!

The overall connecting theme of my work is bold, bright colors and flattened forms. I prefer a nod to a comic book style. You can see some of this style in the Chicago Imagist, some of whom I studied with during college.”

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