2023 FLOWING WATER
Joint exhibition with Hannah Gauntlett from Padua, Italy as part of the Oxford/Padua city twinning link.
2022 POE TREE
A group exhibition shown at OVADA Gallery, Oxford and the Kurfürstliches Gärtnerhaus, Bonn.
The exhibition involved 3 artists from Oxford and 3 from Bonn, celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Oxford/Bonn link.
2021 GROUP EXHIBITION ‘UNPRESEDENTED’ AT OVADA, OXFORD
Installation: Metamorphosis.
2018 DRAWN BY NATURE – THE BEAUTY OF HARSH ENVIRONMENTS. SYDNEY AUSTRALIA
The exhibition is an installation of 20 oil paintings based on sketches made while flying over the Australian desert. It is a collaboration with Emeritus Professor Geoff Scott who is showing in contrast photographs of Antarctica.
MATERIAL WORLD: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, OXFORD 2017
The exhibition was co-ordinated by Diana Bell and included an artists from four of Oxford’s twin cities: Bonn, Susanne Krell; Grenoble, Eric Margery; Leiden, Hanneke Francken and Perm, Inna Rogova. Artists from Oxford were Madi Acharya-Baskerville, Diana Bell, Brook & Black and Jonathan Moss.
My work is made from discarded man-made materials combined with natural materials to create both collage and sculpture. The world is all one, mankind and nature and beauty can be seen in many forms.
MATERIAL WORLD: GRENOBLE, FRANCE, 2016
International Exchange Exhibition ‘Material World’. The exhibition was an exchange between four artists from Oxford; Madi Acharya-Baskerville, Diana Bell, Brook & Black and Jonathan Moss and four from Grenoble; Agne, Emmanuelle Radzyner, Jeff Saint-Pierre and Sonia Serrano. The exhibition took place in the Ancien Musée de Peinture and was co-ordinated by Diana Bell and Sonia Serrano.
Diana’s work explores the contrast between man-made and natural materials. It is an attempt to understand the world and look at the relationship between man and nature.
BERNAU, GERMANY, 2014
International Exchange Exhibition ‘Connected’, Bernau, Germany.
The work for the Bernau project looks at our relationship to the environment. Perhaps if we look at the planet as a whole, humanity is no more than a seed pod on a tree. ‘As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the fields, so he flourisheth’. Yet the paradox is that we have the power to destroy whole forests. The work was made on site and exhibited in and around the town of Bernau.
GRENOBLE, FRANCE, 2013
The Magic of Books, Maison de l’International, Grenoble, France.
The exhibition was part of the International Book Festival in Grenoble. Each of the books was re-created to question how much we do not understand. At the same time Diana exhibited the Big Book as a public participatory project in the Jardin de Ville.
FRAUENMUSEUM, BONN, GERMANY, 2007
Umfelt-Inwelt, Frauenmuseum, Bonn, Germany.
Diana's work looks at the relationship between mankind and the environment and focuses on the invisible life that is all around us. As human beings we tend to believe that what we can see is what exists in our environment. We cannot see what is in the air and when the wind transports millions of tiny particles, we do not see them. Dust, pollen and seeds are carried invisibly for thousands of miles. The planet is totally dependant upon these for spreading trees and grasses, plants and micro-organisms.
And most of us do not notice.
The installation is a collection of wind borne seeds and pollen collected throughout the year in England, Scotland, France and Germany. They are displayed in petri dishes on a mirror set on a long white plinth. The other work shown emphasises a human presence in the environment. The photographs are a collaboration with Bonn photographer Maresa Jung.
CLUJ NAPOCA, ROMANIA, 2006
Expozitie Internationala de Grup,
Satu Mare and
International Land Art Workshop, Cluj Napoca, Romania.
The work questions our presence as human beings in the environment. Along the road the installation asked questions in Romanian and English: ‘Where are you going? ‘Who is going with you?’ ‘How will you know when you have arrived?’
OVADA GALLERY, OXFORD, 2006
Artweek Founder’s Exhibition, OVADA, Oxford.
Humans rely on fragile wind borne seeds for survival. They are the seeds of trees and grasses and many others are seeds which are our staple foods. Wind borne seeds are displayed in petri dishes. A visual diary for each month shows photographs of the cycle of seeds during the year.
MAGDALEN ROAD STUDIOS, OXFORD, 2005
Today I Feel No Kinship to the Human Race,
Magdalen Road Studios, Oxford.
The installation is a collaboration with Nigerian poet and writer Chuma Nwokolo and the title 'Today I feel no kinship with the human race' is taken from his poem, which is heard as part of the installation.
The work is inspired by the stark statistic that 30,000 children die daily from preventable diseases [source: Oxfam publication]. The image provoked is of the 'disposable' children.
There are 30,000 in the installation cut out of newspaper over a period of three months. The newspaper emphasises the statistic as just a piece of news recorded daily, while at the same time the paper children pile up just like recycling rubbish.
FRAUENMUSEUM, BONN, GERMANY, 2004
One in a Million, exchange exhibition: ‘4 aus Oxford’, Frauenmuseum, Bonn, Germany.
The figures are very small to emphasise our relationship with the planet. They are made from wax cast in groups like a repetition of humanity, yet when you look closely each group is different. They are performing human acts on a small scale – loving, fighting, protecting, killing and moving across an imaginary environment. This is humanity on mass, yet when I took a palm print from individuals each is unique. A DNA print from one human individual is part of the installation.
First shown at Magdalen Road Studios 2002.
MODERN ART OXFORD, 2004
Dreaming, Shown in ‘The Oxford Show’, Modern Art Oxford.
The Oxford Show was an open submission exhibition at Modern Art Oxford in March 2004. Diana was chosen as one of twenty seven artists from a submission of over three hundred.
Diana showed two related installations 'Dreaming' and 'Remembering' The 'Dreaming' installation consisted of six pillows, which had been slept on for a night. The pillows were then cast in plaster. The installation was inspired by Diana’s residency at the John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital, Oxford. Some of the pillows were slept on by the children.
ART-IN-SITU, LA ROCHE SUR GRANE, FRANCE, 2001
Memories Come Out of the Wood, an installation made at Art-in-Situ, La Roche sur Grane, France.
This was an International Residency where all the work was made on site using found materials. Diana’s work looked at the way memories are held in wood and seeds which can last for hundreds of years.
MAGDALEN ROAD STUDIOS, OXFORD, 2000
Everything Changes, shown at Magdalen Road Studios, Oxford.
‘The only certainty is change’ – Stephen Hawking
The installation looks at environmental concerns. While mankind ravishes the earth, humans are no more than specks of dust in the universe. The black forms are burnt wood and the light shapes are carved. The detail shows small printed figures in the form of a galaxy.
ST. ALDATE'S CHAMBERS, OXFORD, 1996
A Sense of Nature, ‘Three Cities Art Show’, St Aldate’s Chambers, Oxford and the Custard Factory, Birmingham.
The cycle of decay and regeneration is the same for humans, animals and plants. The link between mankind and nature is both fragile and dependant. Diana exhibited a sound installation which combined the sound of the wind with the sound of breathing. The other work combines natural and man made materials.
THE CUSTARD FACTORY, BIRMINGHAM, 1994
Birth and Death, The Custard Factory, Birmingham.
The work looks at the cycle of life using natural and manmade materials. The names written are the first names from the death registry of all the people who died the same year as my son was born.
