DianaDavila.Art / Arte y Diseño

I grew up surrounded by art. My father, an engineer was an artist at heart. My mother, a creative soul, was  always engaged in different crafts. I became directly in contact with art as a high school student when I choose an elective class with artist Yolanda Pastrana. From then on I worked towards making my dream of becoming an artist a reality. Following her recommendation, I studied with artists Fran Cervoni  at his studio, and with Raul Zayas at Liga de Arte de San Juan, Puerto Rico before going to college. I graduated in 1985 with a BFA from University of the Arts and a Certificate of Fine Art Studies from The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Among many wonderful professors, William Daley, Sharon Church and Edna Andrade from my foundation years continue to be determining influence in my work. Ceramist

 Bernardo Hogan was fundamental specially in learning to manage color through glazes. 

They all guided me to and through the path of art and craft. Although my major was in painting, my first solo show works were abstract pastel drawings. As I evolved as an artist, tridimensionality became an essential component on my path. Abstract sculpture, using concrete as a material, became my medium for expression. Color was always present as I painted them with acrylic washes. This experience led to teaching as I started imparting workshops in concrete sculpture. I wanted to learn more about education and later completed an Art Education Degree from Universidad de Puerto Rico by 1993. The same year I started teaching at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico. Not having time to work in concrete, jewelry making offered me the opportunity to create wearable sculptures. I fell in love with this medium. In 1998 I had my first solo show of jewelry sculptures, Amuletos, at Galería Diseño Isleño, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Although I had worked in clay before, I reconnected with it when I taught a class on materials and techniques at the university. From then on I have been captivated by clay and ceramic.

This brief story is an example of the serendipity of events that inspires me: the energy that interlaces events that shape our development as souls traveling through this life.

 This is my path

The feeling of the energy that surrounds us is what I convey into forms. I intent to transmute the energy I perceive in our environment and its circumstances, to the visual language of forms and images. I am moved, intrigued and inspired by the synchronicities of events that shape our experiences as travelers through this time and space we call life. These experiences suggest a magical space were multiple energy layers merge and guidance is received. 

My work is infused by memories, images, 

thoughts and emotions that interlace

 during my process of creating forms. 

There is often present a sense of the ocean and its movement. Images that suggest vessels, bridges and maps, symbolically represent the evidence of our passage through this life and the encounters we treasure.

Drawing is the link between  the forms that I feel or sense want to become and what materializes tridimensionally as the ceramic and jewelry sculptures I create. I take pleasure in  drawing. I often sit just to sketch and let feelings flow. This practice is what brings cohesion to my work as a ceramist and studio jeweler. Drawings will either become final works on their own merit or will form part of ceramic and jewelry assemblages. arte y diseño