Diane Ponder

Oak Park, Illinois

Earlier in Oak Park, I was featured in a couple articles in the Chicago Tribune and Oak Park paper for my Casket Gallery, sharing space in a discount casket shop.

More recently, I’ve also collaborated with a “Reliquary Project” for MDW Art Fair. We created a reliquary and made a video transporting the reliquary to a place of significance. The travel was documented through a website and a GPS app.

I’ve worked with galleries and shown at art fairs in Hong Kong, Busan, Beijing, and Shanghai.

I was a resident artist with Oak Park, Illinois’ The Art House art collective. I’ve shown in Aqua, New York Art Expo and works on paper art fairs in New York and Miami. I was in a PBS broadcast about an arts project with the Art House.

In support of Sarah’s Inn, a women’s shelter, I’ve had art featured in shows at the Cultural Center Peace Tower of Mark do Suervo in Chicago. Afterward I contacted di Suervo and was permitted to build my own Peace Tower for the Oak Park Art League, which was easily portable and used for a number of additional projects. My art was featured in the long-term exhibit at the visitors center at Navy Pier. I exhibited in and also curated several shows at the Hyde Park Art Center.

I was featured in a show at Microsoft with my Security Cat project. I recorded my cat while I was traveling and collaged photo images and created short videos. 

Diane Ponder is an artist and curator with a studio in the Feather Lofts and Cornelia Arts Building in Chicago.

Her drawing series refers to the passing of time and the dance of the quotidian. She began with mud and sand, ballpoint pen and pencil as a child, and continues to expand into a variety of materials. These materials include oil paint, salt, wax, string, and linen. Emphasis on natural and non-toxic materials benefits the artist and collector. 

She was featured at her former gallery, Studio 26 in the East Village, NYC, and included in their booth in the Select Art Fair in NYC 2015 and Aqua and Art on Paper in Miami.

Past Artists on the Lam show: Exquisite Corpse (2011)

Spring Embrace 

Totem \TOH-tum\ noun. 1 a : an object (such as an animal or plant) serving as the emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of its ancestry; also : a usually carved or painted representation of such an object. b : a family or clan identified by a common totemic object. -Webster’s Merriam dictionary 

“Spring Embrace. It is warm, welcoming, and has a strong stance. A celebration of making it through a rough winter! Hugs and love!” -Dorothy Krakauer

The paint on fabric flows as it suggests a cozy environment. As a mother student artist friend and former wife I contemplate our current rapid changes. A long rest or read in a beloved chair can spring memories and theories into possibilities of futures. It’s a framework and totem of prayers hopes and wishes for us all. Constant creation including making art sustains life.