Diane J. Hinsvark EideVisual artist

Diane J. Hinsvark EideVISUAL ARTIST

PUBLISHED BYGALLERY ARTEZI

2014

“Tucson Saguaro” Watercolor, 28” x 20”, 2007

Diane J. Hinsvark EideArtist

“Paintings and Pastels : Fauna – Fruit – Figures”“Interpretive Studies of, Places, Objects, and People”

IntroductionThis brief compilation of selected images is drawn from the February 2013exhibition of works by Diane J. Hinsvark Eide at Augustana College, SiouxFalls, South Dakota. The exhibition “Paintings and Pastels : Fauna - Fruit– Figures” of some 35 works was staged in the Eide/Dalrymple, Fine ArtGallery. Subject matter was the landscape of Arizona, the Midwest, West,and Norway. Still lifes are of a specific object and placement, or of mixedobjects. The figure has always been of particular interest in all media.During this period of time other works produced in a series could havebeen included, but a choice was made to show diversity in media and sub-ject matter. The grouping of works is by media and the two abstract acrylicpaintings are included with the oils on canvas.

The artist states, “ordinary objects are the subject matter” of works fromthe past 25 years, with the exception being her non-objective work. As ateacher of the Fine-Arts, Art Museum Director and as her husband, I havealways observed and been closely involved as a facilitator with her art pro-duction and materials. Over the years, I have noted how easily she worksvarious media and images separately and simultaneously. Viewers ofteninterpret the variety of subjects and media of oil, watercolor and pastel, asstylistically different, but in reality her style remains consistent in its clarityand subtlety. To me there is a fresh quality to her pieces, and I believe itcomes partly with using more than one medium. Also, confidence in theimage development and completion comes in part with fine drawing skills,innate design and color sense.

I appreciate the critical thoughts of Carl Grupp, John Henry Waddell, andDr. Lindsay Twa.

Joel S. Eide, Ed. D.Retired, NAU Professor of Fine ArtRetired, NAU Art Museum and Galleries, Director

Artist StatementDiane J. Hinsvark Eide

I am an artist who utilizes a varietyof painting and drawing media andsubjects as a means for artisticexpression. In composing a still-life, for instance, I use ordinarysubject matter familiar to all of us.Through editing, simplifying, andthoughtful placement of ele-ments, I hope to encourage theviewer to put aside preconceivedideas and look at the subjects in adifferent light. I use contrastthrough light and value to lend asense of drama and give an ab-stract quality to the painting.

I went through an abstract expressionistic period and sometimes revert tothat genre in a painting. Remnants of that style still appear throughoutmuch of my work. Lately I have explored a more precise and intellectualapproach. I’ve always delighted in drawing, to me the most elemental ofmedia. I especially love to draw the human figure, often striving to capturethe essence of the individual with a few quick expressive lines, but at othertimes further developing the form, modeling with values, as if creating asculpture. I also believe that drawing and painting the landscape is one of anartist’s most rewarding experiences. There is no better way of communingwith nature than to find a quiet place and attempt to interpret and capturethe atmosphere of a scene, whether it is the intense light of the Southwestor the more subdued hues of the fields and prairies of the Midwest.

I’m always on a journey with my painting, striving continually to learn andgrow. My work keeps evolving and continues to reflect my life’s experi-ences, including the places where I live and work, and the people I know,and have known.

Diane Eide with “Separation” Acrylic, 4’ x 5’

Carl Grupp

The great artist, Paul Cezanne, said, ”With an apple I will astonish Paris.“I think of Cezanne when I look at Diane Eide’s paintings of still lifes ofpears, apples and peaches. Like the great artist, Monet, painted his lilyponds, grasses, and flowers of his Giverny, Diane observes the flora of thehigh desert of the Verde River Valley. She translates and shares her ob-servations so we can see with fresh eyes the beauty of the landscape ofthis remarkable land. Carl Grupp

Carl Grupp is a printmaker, painter, and retired professor, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD.

“Red Apples with Shadows” Oil, 40 x 48”, 1989

John Henry Waddell

The work of Diane Eide is so deliberate, honest and highly skilled, that itcatches one off guard. The more of her paintings one sees, the more onebecomes aware and realizes the focus and skill which she has developedin a lifetime consistently devoted to a direct as possible personal portrayalof the landscape and human beings in her work. They are painted withsuch astonishing skill that she seems to be assessing the people and sur-rounding life with no artifice. In order to develop this singular skill, shehad to follow a course, never taking her inspiration from other artists, butfrom her inner self and her intense interest in the world environment andthe humans in it. It seems that she places the brush exactly where shewants it to go.She is so exact that one is amazed at her lack of grandiosity. As she con-tinues in her work with no artifice, but direct observation of humanity andnature, she will become ever more proficient. There is a great deal to besaid for continuous development in a unique and personal direction. Onlyshe in her highly developed skill can discover the delicacy and subtlenessof her future work. On her present course, it will only grow in even moreformidable ways.

John Henry Waddell is an eminent Arizona sculptor and painter

“High Desert Blooms” Oil, 3’ x 4’, 2000, Private Collection

Diane J. Hinsvark Eide: an Appreciationby Dr. Lindsay J. Twa, Associate Professor of Art, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD

Diane J. HinsvarkEide’s oil painting,Apples with BlueWall, renders ex-actly what her titleannounces. Eide’scareful naturalismdraws the viewerin through thesimple pleasure ofappreciating theartist’s ability torender the worldconvincingly—inthis instance, anoval table coveredwith a white linentablecloth, upon which are placed four gloriously red apples and theirpaper wrappers. The longer one lingers within the image, however, themore one can appreciate that this is a thoroughly constructed reality. Theintense reds provide stark visual accents that counter the mellow subtletyof the cool neutral tones of the crumpled white paper against the creamywhite tablecloth, with all framed against the warm tones of the dark back-ground. The asymmetrical placement of the apples and the strong form ofthe curving table provide visual arcs that move the eye around the painting.The sharply defined apples give way to the play of jagged shadows and tex-tures of the wrappers that connect the forms on the table. The softly mod-eled folds of the tablecloth offer a textural counterpoint, out of whichemerges Eide’s signature, returning us to the surface of the canvas andreminding us that the pleasure of this viewing is at the hand of the artist.We celebrate in the skill, the care, and the lifetime of practice that coa-lesces in the arrival of this image.Diane J. Hinsvark Eide is a contemporary classicist—formal and traditionalin her artwork in the best sense of the word. She values the history andtraditions of painting, and exploits the fullest potential of her mediathrough careful study and methodical, relentless work. Eide received herearly training at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD, where she studiedwith the lions of that art department, Ogden Dalrymple and Palmer Eide(who would become her uncle-in-law). These two artists were formalists

“Apples with Blue Wall” Oil, 18” x 24”, 2007

at heart, who also encouraged and incorporated the art world’s mod-ernisms into their practice and teachings. They privileged the simplifica-tion of forms and a “truth-to-material” philosophy, encouraging eachstudent to embrace the distinct properties and expressive potential of eachmedium. As such, Hinsvark Eide was receptive to the structures of form,the long-standing traditions of subject and composition, and the crafts-manship of paint-handling techniques, but she was also responsive tomodernist developments. Eide earned a B.A. in art and German, with aminor in music from Augustana in 1958, graduating magna cum laude.Eide continued graduate work in painting at the University of Denver from1967-1969, where she also continued her studies in pipe organ. She com-pleted an M.A. at Northern Arizona University in 1997. Like many artists whose seminal development occurred in the 1950s and1960s, Eide went through a period of painting in the style of Abstract Ex-

pressionism. She wasparticularly encouragedto explore and exploit thetechniques of abstractionby her study with VanceKirkland (1904-1981), thefounding director of theArt School at the Univer-sity of Denver. Eide hasproduced many success-ful paintings through thevisual language of non-objective abstraction—work with no ostensiblesubject matter beyond

the artist’s brushstrokes and the “event” she renders on the canvas. Andalthough she sometimes returns to this style, Abstract Expressionism isjust one more tool in her arsenal, rather than the only vehicle for express-ing her creative drive. In many ways, however, Eide needed her masteryof Abstract Expressionism to become an exceptional artist of high natu-ralism. Through perspective, foreshortening, and careful modeling, Eidecreates forms that convincingly occupy space and carry weight. To expressan object, however, is more than just its optical reality. Her subject matter,be it still lifes, landscapes, or her main love, the human figure, are vehiclesfor expressing the sensuality of light rendered in brushstrokes and lumi-nous layers of paint. Her understanding of how to organize the entire can-vas to encourage the viewer to engage with the full picture, and how therevealed brushstroke can create energy and interest are informed by tech-niques of abstraction. Eide’s 2005 oil painting Seated Figure with Cat is an example where Eide’snaturalism is clearly activated by the tools of Abstract Expressionism.Here, what could have become a static study of a seated figure on a couchbecomes an embodiment of painterly movement through leading lines and

“Ascendance” Acrylic, 3’ x 4’, 1999

tonal contrasts. The stark highlights and deep shadows, paired with strate-gically placed horizontal brushstrokes activate the composition and de-mand that the viewer move across and through the canvas, rather thanfocus only on thelarge-scale figure.Careful contour lines,especially the verti-cals and angles of thefigure and couch pro-vide visual punctua-tion, working with andoften countering theimage’s strong hori-zontals. For example,the upright lines ofthe model’s knee andthe couch cushionsdemarcate a compositional square within the canvas and direct the eye tothe form of the resting cat, who at once melds with the activated brush-work of the background and occupies space alongside the figure. Eide’smastery of the properties of color is also evident as shocks of intense redsand blues actually coalesce into negative spaces and figural elements thatthe viewer can “read” as both forms in space and brushstrokes.Eide is also a self-taught watercolor artist. Augustana professor PalmerEide was an advocate for traditional “transparent watercolor”, where the

artist uses only the white of thepaper, rather than opaque whitepaint, for highlights and buildsforms through the layering ofthe translucent pigments. Al-though Diane Eide did not takeup the serious study of water-color until after Augustana,Palmer Eide’s “truth-to-materi-als” philosophy continued to in-spire her to adhere to therigours of the tradition of trans-parent watercolor. Eide’s work inwatercolors accelerated withher experiences at NorthernArizona University and the inspi-ration of Arizona’s High Desertlandscape, where the quality ofthe light seemed to demandrendering in watercolor. She isnow an award-winning, juriedmember of the Northern Ari-

“Seated Figure with Cat” 2’ x 3’, 2005

“Figure with Butterfly” Watercolor, 34” x 28” 2004, Private Collection

zona Watercolor Society. Yet Eide would be the first to tell you that she isprimarily an oil painter at heart and she would probably choose to paintwith this medium year-round if she could. Nevertheless, she enjoys thechallenge of transparent watercolor and her results are confident in herexploitation of the medium. The 2004 watercolor, Figure with Butterfly, isa great example of Eide’s sensitive tonal washes and luminous highlights.

Eide’s impressive and ranging body of work is a testament to her relent-less drive to create. She did not, however, have the luxury of dedicatingherself solely to her own work throughout her career. Eide taught in theDenver public schoolsfrom 1965-1969, andthe Flagstaff publicschools from 1982-1996. Her teachingdid help to solidify herpractice; after all, shefelt that she alsoneeded to be able tosolve the design prob-lems that she as-signed to her students. From 1976-1997 Eide also taught drawing and arteducation at Northern Arizona University. As a student and teacher in theprogram at Northern Arizona University, Eide found rich interactions withthe campus’s faculty and visiting artists. She found Richard E. Beasley(1934-1992), a talented designer, painter and calligrapher, to be inspiringand helpful in both painting techniques and design concepts. She found

“Large Pears on Bunched Cloth” Oil, 2’ x 4’, 2010

“Golden Midwest Fields” Oil, 2’ x 3’, 2013

painter and illustrator David Christiana, who teaches at the University ofArizona, to also be influential. Eide’s paintings, however, have always beenher own, and inspiration has never devolved into imitation.

In the end, we can celebrate an artist like Eide for encouraging our eyes tolinger. The energetic quietude that exudes from a landscape like GoldenMidwest Fields (oil on canvas, 2013) or a still life like Large Pears onBunched Cloth (oil on canvas, 2010) can be an antidote to our hyper-paced,jump-cut, media-saturated world. Important things can still be saidthrough seemingly unimportant subject matter. It is in the gridded com-position that becomes the expansive space of plowed and farmed fieldsreaching to the horizon. It is in the tension of brilliant deep turquoise setagainst shocks of orange and reflected green on the warm yellow bodiesof monumental pears. It is in the significance of a painting’s ability to ask,nay, demand of the viewer an attentive contemplation. Creativity is aprocess. For Eide, it is also a respect for craft and for the traditions ofimage making that have gone before. Creativity is not a luxury, but a liter-acy. The gift of an artist like Diane Eide is in showing us that it still has aplace in our twenty-first-century world.

“View of Jerome“ oil 3' x4', 2001

" Artist in the Verde River studio"

OIL PAINTINGS

“Three Unwrapped Apples” Oil, 2’ x 3’, 2003

“Bosc Pears” Oil, 24” x 27” Private Collection, 2004

“Red Apples with Shadows” Oil, 40 x 48”, 1989

“Peaches with Blue” Oil, 18” x 24”, 2009

“California Landscape, II” Oil, 2’ x 3, 2011

“High Desert Blooms” Oil, 3’ x 4’, 2000, Private Collection

“Figure with Scarf” Oil, 3’ x 2’, 2008

“Cowboy Reflecting” Oil, 3’ x 2’, 2004

“Four Large Pears on White” Oil, 3’ x4’ 1988

“Peaches on Folded Cloth” Oil, 16” x 20”, 2009

“Pears with White Pitcher” Oil, 16 x 20”, 2010

“Sunflowers with Pears” Oil, 3’ x 2’, 2009

"Artist sketching at the Verde River"

WATERCOLORS

“Winter, Norway” Watercolor, 22” x 29”,2010

“Hinsvark Home, Norway” Watercolor, 16” x 20”, 2002

“Norway Farm, Winter” Watercolor, 30” x 24”, 2009

“Midwest Farm, Winter” Watercolor, 1986

“Morning Cup of Coffee” Watercolor, 26” x 34”, 2012“Home from the Market” Watercolor, 16” x 23” 2013

“Home from the Market” Watercolor, 16” x 23” 2013

“Reclining Reader” Watercolor, 22” x 36”, 2011

“Figure in Mexican Chair” Watercolor, 28” x 22”, 2003

"The entrance gate to the Verde River high desert studio, home, and gallery"

PASTELS

“Girl with Blanket” Pastel, 48” x 36”, 1992

“Cacti Family” Pastel/Mixed Media, 34” x 28”, 1992

“Man with Bare Feet” Pastel, 48” x 36”, 1988

“Figure on Blue” Pastel, 26” x 32”, 2003

“Figure Study” Pastel 26” x 32”, 2003

“Figure with Blue Cloth” Pastel, 24” x 27”, 2004

"The artist studio with the high desert river landscape"

Diane J. Hinsvark EideCurriculum Vitae

Education:M.A., Northern Arizona University 1997Graduate Study in Painting, University of Denver 1967–1969B.A., Art, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD 1958Employment:Flagstaff Public Schools, Art Teacher 1982–1996Northern Arizona University, Drawing and Art ED 1976–1997Denver Public Schools, Art Teacher 1965–1969Exhibitions:Augustana College Art Gallery, Sioux Falls, SD 2013Arizona Arts Alliance 2013Northern Arizona Watercolor Society, various 2001–2013Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD 2010E-G0 Gallery, Clarkdale, AZ 2009No. Arizona Watercolor Society Juried Member 2004–2009East Bank Gallery, Sioux Falls, SD, Featured Artist 2005Sedona Arts Festival, Featured Artist 2004Cochise College, Two Person Exhibition 2003Made in Clarkdale 2001–2013Augustana College, Exhibition with Palmer Eide 1989NAU Art Museum and Galleries 1979–1997Flagstaff Symphony, Special Solo Exhibition 1987 Denver Art Museum, “Own Your Own” Juried 1966–1967 Augustana College, “Alumni Invitational” 1963Private Galleries:Juddville Clay, Door County, WI 2006–2009Gallery 465, Sycamore Canyon, Clarkdale, AZ 2004–2009Gallery 527, Jerome, AZ 2005Gallery 465, Sedona, AZ 2002–2004The Modern Hand, Tucson, AZ 2003Star Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2003Artists’ Gallery, Flagstaff, AZ 1995–1996Collections:Academic, Corporate, Religious, and PrivateTravel and Study: Asia, Western and Eastern Europe