Ellen Diamond is an artist who operates a studio out of her Sawgrass Country Club home.
WHERE CAN YOU
SEE HER WORK?
Galleries showcasing her work include Mast Cove Gallery in Kennebunkport, Maine, Robley Gallery in Roslyn, N.Y. and Fairfax Gallery in Jacksonville. Local corporate entities that collect her work include the Jacksonville Heart Center, the Pavilion Center for Women, Mayo Clinic and the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
MARKS OF DISTINCTION
Diamond’s handiwork graced one of the painted violins at a fundraiser for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra guild to benefit music education. Additionally, at the Cummer Museum Ball, one of her paintings was up for auction.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PAINTING?
Diamond’s father was a portrait painter and her primary influence. “I was born with a paintbrush in my hand. I guess I started when I was about five.”
WHY PAINT?
“Painting is my whole life. It’s everything I look at and everything I touch. It’s just part of me. When I go to a gallery or museum and see something that inspires me, it makes my heart beat fast.”
HOMETOWN
New York City.
WHAT BROUGHT
YOU HERE?
“I came to Jacksonville in 1996 because I needed a change and my daughter and her husband lived here. I love to go to New York museums. I’ve got to get my fix every month or so. I like to walk the streets and feel the pace of the city.”
FAMILY
Jay, Diamond’s husband, is the author of several marketing textbooks and the former dean of State University of New York. The couple co-authored two books: “Contemporary Visual Merchandising” and “The World of Fashion.” They have three children, Sheri, Caryn and David and four grandchildren.
EDUCATION
She has a bachelor’s degree in art education from New York University. She also studied at Pratt Institute and Brooklyn Museum of Art.
WHAT’S YOUR STYLE?
Throughout her artistic career, Diamond has dabbled in variations of representational art such as cubism, realism, abstraction and decorative patterning. “When you learn art, you learn every school of art. An artist experiments with different methods and pulls it into their own experiments.” Inspired by artists such as Matisse, Monet and Bonnard, Diamond describes her most recent body of work as contemporary impressionism. “Eighty percent of my work is color. The medium I use is acrylics. I used to paint in oil but I prefer acrylic because the fumes that come from the materials in oil such as turpentine and varnish aren’t healthy. Acrylics are safer. I developed a technique where my paintings look just like an oil painting. There is a certain glazing I use so it has the look and feel of an oil painting. I can develop the same texture, intensity of color and value of color but it takes experimentation.”
BRUSHING OVER
THE BRIDGES
Likenesses of area bridges such as the Palm Valley Bridge, the Ortega Bridge and the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine have probably garnered her the most notoriety locally. “When I first came here they [the bridges] told the story of old Florida. In Manhattan, the bridges are these huge structures. It’s sad, the Palm Valley Bridge is coming down now. When I came here it was a country bridge but there has been so much development that this huge structure is being put up.” The entire collection of her bridge art work is displayed at the Mayo Clinic.
TRAVELING TO KEEP THE CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING
On a trip to the Provencal towns of France, Diamond was stirred to paint the bustle of villagers at their market squares. “Before I was doing the Maine coastline but that summer I changed my subject matter. Provence has magnificent light. The light makes the landscape sparkle. The activity of people as they busily go through the marketplace presents an excellent subject. On any given day in each town there is an excitement that takes place. Living in Ponte Vedra there is a similarity in light that reflects off the ocean. The marsh lands and preserves have provided me with a new subject. When I’m three-quarters of the way through a piece, I am starting the next. One piece gives birth to the next.”
RECENT ENDEAVORS
Her new concept is sculpture. The template is molded in clay and bronze is poured in the mold to create the piece.
CAN YOU SPOT
THE IMPOSTOR?
Unlike traditional methods of reproducing work such as woodcuts or lithographs, Diamond has teamed with Jack Slaughter, owner of The Framing Establishment/Fairfax Gallery, to generate copies of her bridge paintings using a giclee (sprayed paint) method, which she believes represents her colors better but still allows her to meet demand for the popular series.
WHAT’S CHALLENGING ABOUT ART?
“A big issue for artists is to get your work out and have someone you trust to represent your work. I had experiences that didn’t work well and I was disappointed. When I came to Jacksonville and met Jack Slaughter I felt I had found someone I trust to represent my work in a way that made me happy. Because he knows the clientele, he guides my work sometime.”
BITE OUT OF THE BIG APPLE
In New York, Diamond worked as an art educator and operated Ellen Diamond’s Art Studio.
OTHER INTERESTS
Golfing, dining at bb’s or surfing channels for biographies on A&E are her favorites. To spark her creativity, she reads about artists and their lives or takes a peaceful stroll along the ocean. Diamond also teaches art classes at the Ponte Vedra Beach Cultural Center, where she is a board member. She is also on the board of the Jacksonville Coalition for Visual Arts and part of the National Association of Women Artists.
—by Monica Chamness