could not help but be influenced by the
Beat Generation, a group of American
writers who were alienated by what
they saw as the conventionality and
materialism of the 1950s in the post-
World War II era. The following year,
1965, Keller suggested Diane apply to
Cooper Union for the Advancement of
Science and Art. It was a unique
school established in 1859 by Peter
Cooper, who made his school
free to the working classes and
also opened the school to
women as well as men. She
says, “You did not submit a
portfolio to the art school, but
instead, went to New York
City for two days of tests in
their auditorium.”
She
describes being given “lumps
of Plasticine, drawing and
design problems, and ques-
tionaires.” Diane did well:
“Having to perform sponta-
neously was not hard for
me....it is probably one of my
strengths.” She was pleased
when she was accepted as a
night student. “This was heav-
en, for a country girl to be in
Manhattan,” she says, and she
became a “quasi-beatnik,”
since as a student she had free
passes to all the museums and
took advantage of the
Whitney, Metropolitan and all
the others the city had to offer.
Unfortunately, she had a hard
time financially and had to
drop out. She continued mak-
ing art, following Keller’s
advice: “If you really plan on
being a painter, get used to
standing in a closet and stomp-
ing your feet.”
Diane transferred as a col-
lege senior to an accredited
college, the Windham College
in Putney, VT, and graduated
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree in 1975.
She says,
“Artists draw on an infinite
number of sources for inspira-
tion.” Although she sketches
from plants, animals and land-
scapes, “It is the ideas and
abstractions that interest me
more.” Although she did not
stop painting, she was not showing as
actively toward the end of the 80s. “I
had a few annual shows in my studio in
Bellows Falls, VT, and I began to work
on a line of more commercial prod-
ucts, traveled, and moved about
more,” She attended a very small
school, Mark Hopkins College (now
defunct) in Brattleboro, VT, and had
an art teacher who had studied at the
Sorbonne in Paris. She says, “John
Irving was my literature teacher
(author of World According to Garp),” and
since the school had only 25 students
who worked through ‘independent
study,’ “It was a very free and loose titled, “Art for Art’s Sake.” She had
started a series of three-dimensional
pieces but put her art on hold when
she moved to Marathon, TX in 1997.
That year, Diane had turned 50 and
she and her husband, Angelo
Putignano, decided to follow a friend
to Marathon to purchase an old adobe
for “a whopping $5000! There were
still a few shingles on the roof frame,
school. I had an apartment, a studio,
and time and freedom to paint as long
and hard as I pleased.”
In the summer of 1991, Diane was
profiled in Woodstock Common mag-
azine by Michael Peters, in an article which was still intact, and four solid
walls.” Renovation became the new
creative outlet…along with starting
and operating a small restaurant
(Angelo’s and Diane’s on main street).
Angelo was a barber by trade and had
Cenizo
operated a pizza shop in Saxton’s
River, VT. He learned to build and
Diane says she “Learned to patch and
paint and design on a LARGE scale.”
They eventually sold the house and
built another one, also in Marathon.
Diane says, “This part of Texas cast an
irresistible spell with its protective
basin of mountains that felt like they
were snuggling you in with their sur-
rounding ridges and endless
sky. The light danced in totally
unpredictable circles all across
the top of the ridges.”
It seemed fortuitous that in
October, 2014, Diane was
invited to submit work to
Catchlight Gallery in Alpine,
and she felt honored for the
opportunity to join. The
gallery, established in 2004 to
illuminate the work of Big
Bend artists, is a co-operative
of 14 artists and seems to be a
good fit for Diane. After 20
years of living in Marathon,
Diane still finds inspiration “In
the broken glass that seemed to
lend itself perfectly to the por-
cupine quills I had been using
for my collages and boxes.”
When Diane speaks of her art,
one can almost imagine her
rowing a canoe down a calm,
bucolic river, through the
wrinkles of time, her chiseled
features perfectly profiled as
her eyes search for forgotten
objects, catching in the light to
be absorbed much like a whale
would swallow shiny fish.
As Diane plans and pre-
pares for her one woman show
at the Catchlight Gallery, the
show will coincide with her
70th birthday. From artist
Romare Bearden, “You put
down one color and it calls for
an answer. You have to look at
it like a melody.”
“Life has me a firm believer
that all things happen for a
purpose,” says Diane, and as
her lifework takes another
turn, one can hear the beat
plays on.
Diane Bailey’s one-woman
show will be held at the
Catchlight Gallery in March and April
2017, 117 W. Holland Ave in Alpine.
www.catchlightartgallery.com
for
more information.
First Quarter 2017
23