bio
dian is a lifelong resident of Chicago, currently living in rural North Carolina. She is the daughter of abstract painter Stanley Sourelis, one of the original members of Chicago’s Wells Street Gallery group in the 1950’s. dian grew up around painters, poets and musicians and loved making constructions out of what she found while playing and riding her bike in her Hyde Park neighborhood. This, along with the encouragement of her artistic family, laid the groundwork for future experimentation and a life of making art.
dian’s interest in large, mixed media constructions led her to the Philadelphia College of Art in 1976. While she enjoyed the discipline and rigor of the School’s foundation program, she missed the freedom she had enjoyed as a child creating in her father’s studio and later, in her own. dian left the Philadelphia program after several years and returned to Chicago, where she raised a family, and continued to experiment with painting and mixed media, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University, Chicago with a B.A., Art Education.
for the past 40 years dian has shown her work in a variety of regional and national galleries and venues, developing a strong group of collectors and continuing to experiment with mixed media—working with found photos, reclaimed wood and metal, repurposed silk screens and, more recently, with found papers and beeswax. Her use of repetitive imagery, linear and graphic forms, and often, the written word, have produced an ethereal, peaceful body of work that explores the themes of gender, family, memory and purpose.
dian recently relocated to Warrenton, NC, having fallen in love with a 100-year-old, light-filled historic home.
artist statement
for as long as I can remember, I have found beauty, depth and balance in what others cast off. A tiny scrap of rusted metal, a worn square of cloth or leather, discarded family photos, old nails…….
it is a peaceful practice. I gather up these odd, but beautiful, objects and materials and combine them to tell stories, to evoke emotion. My work is quiet, yet strong, like the everyday people in the images and the sturdy, repurposed materials themselves.
I work with a variety of materials: reclaimed silk, wood and canvas, silkscreen frames, found paper and cardboard, wooden tools and sharpening stones, thread, screen, wax and rusted metal. These materials provide a richly textured starting point, complete with old tape, staples, wood joists and other functional elements, sharing their own history of careful use.
my use of repetitive imagery, linear and graphic forms, and often, the written word, have produced an ethereal, peaceful body of work that explores the themes of gender, family, memory and purpose.
look closely! It is in the tiny surprises, the subtle areas of image and texture, that I find the fun and the comfort.