Diane Christiansen

Diane Christiansen is a visual artist, musician, and social worker whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, stop-motion animation, and large-scale collaborative installations. Her work has explores themes of impermanence, interconnectedness, and the cycles of birth, death, and decay. These themes are a constant thread throughout her diverse body of work, which is marked by a deep interest in the transient nature of life and its emotional and physical processes.

In 2010, Christiansen collaborated with artist Shoshanna Utchenik on Notes to Nonself, an immersive piece that merged painting, sculpture, animation, and sound. The installation was exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center, and later traveled to the Herron Galleries in Indianapolis and Kapsula in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This collaboration led to further joint projects, including Birth, Death, Breath a large-scale inflatable opera created with Jeanne Dunning that premiered at the Elmhurst Art Museum and later traveled to the Armory in Pasadena and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Christiansen’s work has been widely exhibited across the United States, including in New York City, Los Angeles, Marfa, Texas, and Denver, as well as internationally in Edinburgh, Scotland. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, and the Arts Club of Chicago. Her animations have also been screened at festivals and galleries worldwide.