Diane Maranger’s Bibliography
After 35 years of teaching drama, music, and visual arts to elementary school students, Diane Maranger picked up a paint brush and palette with the intention of dabbling for her own enjoyment. She had raised three sons, and had completed undergraduate and post-graduate studies at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and Niagara University, Lewistown, New York. She wasn’t entirely certain what she would do with her time, but she felt a creative wellspring bubbling within her soul.
It was her friend, Mary Anastasia Crowe, an accomplished watercolourist, who encouraged Diane to express herself with wide, sweeping brush strokes and plenty of colour. The two women were vacationing in the Alleghany Mountains of Upstate New York, and by the end of their holiday, the walls of their tiny cabin were filled with their art work.
The experience lit a spark for Diane. On numerous travels around the world, the art and architecture tapped into a primal part of her being. From watching polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, to observing sea lions cavorting off the coast of Ushuaia, Argentina; from visits to castles and convents, Diane began to see shapes, textures, and shadows in a more abstract way, and see colour in more intense hues. Inspiration and influence was drawn from her spiritual background, surroundings and the various artists she encountered.
In San Miguel, Mexico, ever so many years ago, Diane was introduced to printmaking. The moment she stepped across the threshold of the art studio, she was entranced by the students’ enthusiasm and the almost ethereal process of printmaking.
Upon her return from Mexico, Diane met Katherine Zarull, a printmaker in Hamilton. Katherine coached her in a variety of techniques, and ultimately encouraged Diane to enter one of her works in a province-wide juried exhibition at Toronto’s John B. Aird Gallery. Diane submitted Behind the Matador’s Cape, and the work won 2nd prize, slightly one year after being introduced to Printmaking!
Brimming with enthusiasm and curiosity, Diane is a prolific artistic force. Her work appears at both public and private art shows, and juried exhibitions.
Mother of three grown sons, and grandmother to seven, Diane resides in Hamilton, Ontario, and winters in San Miguel, Mexico.
