Diane Mazur
Visual Arts: Ceramist, Mixed Media Artist, Painter, Sculptor
Diane Mazur is an artist currently specializing in Paintings, Drawings, Mixed Media, Ceramic sculpture and Installation artworks. A colorist, she has worked with many mediums over a long career, including Paintings, Collage, Wood Constructions, Ceramic Sculpture, and Installation. Her work is appreciated for it’s vibrant color and energy. “People say they like to live around my artwork because the colors and energy make them feel good”, says Mazur. She studied under James Surls at SMU in the ‘70’s, and he exhibited her paintings in the 80’s at the Lawndale Annex in Houston during the “Fresh Paint” craze. This catapulted Mazur on to the national and international scene, where she has been exhibiting ever since.
Diane’s strong background in figure drawing and dance influenced her work early on as she embraced Gesture Drawing and Action Painting. Since 1978, Mazur has been exploring questions about human perception and psychology in paintings that she designs to be viewed from any direction, the “4-Way Works”. Through the process of painting on the floor, she developed a technique for creating pieces that can be viewed from any direction. She “hypnotically dances around the pieces”, impregnating them with suggestive associations from each perspective. She throws, pours and squirts her paints, working with different viscosities of oil and water based paints to get the affects she wants. Positive and negative space sometimes transform from one viewpoint to another. Some pieces are interactive and kinetic. Mazur has presented her 4-Way Pieces on the floor, the ceiling, and on clotheslines and with hardware that the spectators can physically turn. Presently, she prefers to equip these “4-Way Works” with hardware so they can be hung from any direction and allow each viewer to determine which way(s) they want to view each piece.
From Gesture Drawing to Action Painting to the 4-Way Works and back, the figure has always informed and influenced Mazur’s work. The more abstract “4-Way Works” approach metaphysical content, such as transformation and simultaneity, while the more traditional 1-way figurative pieces usually comment more on social and political issues, many of which involve women. Mazur has always used physical exercise as an energizer in her own work as a visual artist & throughout her career, she has taught Dance, Creative Movement, Mat Pilates, Senior Fitness, and Gyro tonic, as well as Art.
Mazur earned her BFA in Drawing from SMU (1974), her MFA in Painting from UTSA (1978), and did post graduate work with Steve Reynolds in Ceramics. (UTSA-2000-2002). She was in the first, revolutionary Blue Star Exhibit in San Antonio, Texas, in 1986 and helped develop the
vibrant, local art scene that San Antonio now enjoys. Diane served on the Blue Star board from 1988-1991, and curated the “Blue Star Loft Project” in 1991, placing over 150 local artists’ work in over 60,000 square feel of warehouse space under construction for lofts in the Blue Star Arts Complex. Mazur did a Residency at the STARTsoma Gallery in San Francisco in 2003, has been awarded several Individual Artist’s Grants, received a Creative Capital Grant in 2010, and has continued to run and maintain a working studio for over 40 years. Mazur married photographer John Dyer in 1978, and they have two children and six grandchildren. She began teaching college art in the 80’s, and returned to teaching college Art and Pilates when the kids left home.(2004-2017). She now works full time producing and exhibiting her artwork, participating in residencies, and running her studio.
