Diane Charyk Norris

Diane Charyk Norris is a landscape painter and printmaker drawn to natural places with dynamic forces, elemental structures, changing light, dramatic color passages, and flowing movement. Based in New England, Diane works in watercolor, monotype, acrylics, inks, and charcoal. She is a member of Mixit Print Studio where she is currently focusing on watercolor monotypes and teaches workshops on the medium. She is also a member of the Monotype Guild of New England (MGNE) and has a studio at Miller Street Studios in Somerville, MA. Her work is in numerous private collections.

Diane’s work is influenced by time in coastal Maine and Cape Cod as well as her background in waterfront architecture. Diane has exhibited her work in solo or two person shows including 255 Main Street in Cambridge, Gladstone, Chandler Gallery, New England Biolabs, and Paul Dietrich Gallery. Her paintings have been featured in curated group shows including Concord Art, Mosesian Arts, Bromfield Gallery, Cambridge Art Association (CAA), Arlington Center for the Arts (ACA), Gallery Twist, the Danforth, and Maud Morgan Arts (MMA).

Diane practiced as an architect for over 25 years, but was always drawn to painting as a departure into the natural world. Her initiation to painting was in college, where she studied painting under Neil Welliver at Penn in the 1980’s, a too brief but very inspiring period. In later years, she resumed her art education at SMFA and also enjoyed independent classes with Jane Goldman, Marjorie Glick, and George Nick. 

“I am struck in awe by the fleeting moments of light across the surface of water, the movement and patterns in waves crashing into a rocky shore, the vast space of tide pool patterns on a sandy beach, the quiet early morning shadows raking across a red rock canyon, cascading landscapes of light and air in waterfalls.  Painting these elemental landscapes is deeply challenging, but for me it provokes a way of seeing and discovery into a personal narrative on the state and spirit of the natural environment.”