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Artist Diana Creighton
Oracle artist Diana Crieghton paints her secret life.
Diana has been painting over 25 years. She grew up in Los Angeles and attended Stanford where she studied art and received a degree in American Literature. She studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and later moved to Phoenix. She continued her art education at Arizona State University. She put her art on hold for a while to go to work in the newspaper business. She along with her husband Ned Creighton owned and operated the Arizona Capitol Times newspaper.
Diana uses human and animal figures in her art “to tell stories and create a conversation in oil paint.” She says she got the idea of using animals from the Portuguese artist Paula Rego, whose work she admires. Her paintings are whimsical and light hearted but there is a serious undertone in the pictures that makes one think and leaves the stories to individual interpretation.
All at Sea by Diana Creighton
Diana’s latest paintings have been using a Jaguar to represent human traits.
“He is powerful, but gets into scrapes, or is trapped, or gets distracted,” Diana said. “Sometimes it’s all too much for him.”
In the Drink by Diana Creighton
Her paintings have been displayed at Tucson International Airport and she has participated in numerous individual and group shows including a number of exhibits at the Herberger Theater Art Gallery in Phoenix, Shemer Art Center, Drawing Studio in Tucson, Raices Taller, Gallery – Art One in Scottsdale and at Ballard’s Artwork & Frame Gallery in Echo Park in Los Angeles. She is also a regular part of the Oracle Studio Art Tour.
Writers have influenced Diana’s art, most notably the works of Columbian novelist, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. She quotes Marquez on her website to explain some aspect of her art, “All human beings have three lives: public, private and secret.”
“I paint my secret life,” Diana said.
You can learn more about Diana ’s art and view some of her paintings at www.soupbangstudio.com.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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