projects.

The Wall

The Sentinel

Single Works

Illustrations

The Wall

​

What Happens in the Forest...

The Sentinel

Little Deer

about.

BIOGRAPHY

Born: Clearfield, PA

​

Diane Arrieta (USA) was raised in Western Pennsylvania and currently resides in South Florida. She holds a BFA in ceramic sculpture  (Florida Atlantic University, FL) and an MSc in Biodiversity and Wildlife Health (University of Edinburgh, U.K.).

​

The works of Diane Arrieta have been exhibited in several museums, such as the Cornell Museum of American Art & Culture, The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, The Boca Raton Museum and the Museum Of Fine Art Tallahassee. She has had several solo exhibitions, including the Art & Cultural Center Hollywood and Palm Beach State College. Her work is shown throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Her work is in both private and public collections, including the Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz (Girl’s Club) Collection.

Additionally, Arrieta has been granted the coveted South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship Grant in 2008, and the 2010 Hector Ubertalli Award for the Visual Arts. She has served on several public art committees (to include Palm Beach County Art in Public Places and Art in State Buildings-State of Florida Cultural division), runs an exhibition program at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Libraries, is the Director of the International Humanities Curatorial Lab (IHP) Project at FAU and maintains a studio in Palm Beach, FL.

​

​

Statement: [revised March 2021]​

​

My new bodies of work, starting with my ongoing series for The Wall, see a departure from my bright whimsical faux materials, reminiscent of animated characters in a film—to a return to more natural materials. After everyone was experiencing different levels of isolation over the past year; I sat quietly reflecting on how I was feeling about the world in general, but also my own artwork.

I found myself wanting to get out in nature and touch, smell and feel it. As a conservation biologist, I want people to feel a need to hold on to healthy ecosystems and animals that make them function correctly. I needed the work [animals and humans] to become part of the landscapes that are quickly disappearing.

I consider myself a project artist, so my decision on what medium I settle on for each installation or project can vary widely. Instead of “building” populations of endangered animals as I did in the past, I have settled on using fresh cut grasses and plaster so the landscape and the animals become one. I am grasping at holding onto the animals and landscapes we have. My studio now smells like a meadow!

The new work is wild and messy, just as nature should be.

​

​

Education:

​BFA   Ceramic Sculpture Florida Atlantic University

MSc   Wildlife and Ecosystems Health University of Edinburgh, U.K.

​

​

CV      

ESSAY ABOUT RECENT WORK: 

Play and (not so hidden) Subterfuge in the Anti-Extinction Art of “Birds Are Nice  by Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph.D 

​

​