At first blush, Diane Hansen seems a contradiction. As a young girl, she studied classical art with a French Countess. As an adult, she works in the gritty world of glassblowing furnaces. She is drawn to both decorative Rococo elements and the durability of automotive enamel. “I went to finishing school,” says Diane, “but the other side of me is content to rappel down a mountain.”

Her work spans the pop to the elegant, the intimate to the public, but, according to Diane, “It all comes from me. I am a cohesive individual.” The thread that runs through Diane’s work is that it is all about a time and a place, whether a piece re-imagines a distant past or asks a viewer to interact and create their own memories.

After attending Arizona State University, Diane, a native Washingtonian, discovered the Northwest Glass Movement after being invited to attend the 1989 Pilchuck Auction. She became captivated with glass and soon began glassblowing at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle.

Diane first attended Pilchuck Glass School in1991 and has been a student there many times since. She has studied with Lino Tagliapietra, Benjamin Moore, Richard Royal, Sonya Blomdal, David Levi, among other artists. In 2003 and 2004 she was a member of the Poleturners Union, creating centerpieces. Diane has also been a guest artist at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA and guest lecturer and artist at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland.

Indicative of Rococo style, Diane’s work is highly ornate and decorative. She believes that no surface should be left unadorned, and the more you put on the better it looks. She exhibits both nationally and internationally. Locally her fine art works can be seen at Foster/White Gallery and her public art pieces can currently be seen around Tacoma and Seattle, Washington.

Diane reflects, “What do I want people to do when they see my art? I want them to have a strong personal experience. I want it to resonate with them on a personal level. I want it to connect them with who they are. I want it to remind people about the truth of themselves.”