Check out Dianne L. Kittle’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dianne L. Kittle.

Dianne L., we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
The world of photography opened up to me as a small child under the influence of my grandparents. My grandfather photographed and printed black and white images while my grandmother oil painted. They instilled in me the passion and power of creativity. On my first trip to Australia and New Zealand to meet my grandmother’s family, I bought an SLR camera and photographed a two-month journey that changed the pathway of my life. Although I chose to study environmental biology in college, a camera was never far from my reach.

As a desert biologist, my job included photographing native flora and fauna and doing helicopter census counts of wild horses and feral burros living in California. For several years, documentary photography became my passion. Many weekends were spent backpacking in the Sierra Mountains to photograph.

Later in life, my husband’s career took me back to Australia and I began to study Fine Art Photography at Point Light Gallery which lead to my first exhibitions. My studies continued with our move to Thailand and a photography teaching assignment at an international school. I photographed the aftermath of the Tsunami in Banda Ache, Indonesia to document the operation of the World Food Program. This provided a real world photography experience in the NGO realm. I also photographed a bit of the Tsunami wave as it rolled into the beach in Thailand and then photographed the evacuation the next day. It was the photos that I did not take that taught me the most in the world as a photographer.

As a lifelong learner, I am pursuing an MFA to grow myself by reaching a higher thinking level in photography. Teaching is gratifying and fun and in addition I am investing more time in personal expansion as a photographer and hope to exhibit and create fine art images and photography books of significance that go beyond pretty pictures. I hope to evolve my image making in conceptual story telling that has the potential to help society. Photography is a tool that can transform life.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Currently, I am working on a project called “In Search of Silence”. I have been researching different techniques people find to reach that zone of complete awareness either by finding a silent space or by going within themselves while doing a meditative contemplative activity. With the intent of expanding my artistic consciousness into a zone of silence, I have been creating images of people doing what they love in life like Ikebana, fire dancing, and playing with their dog at the park.

Silent spaces are dwindling as the population grows, but silence is necessary for the functioning of society and health of the individual. There are few places left where we do not hear the sounds of machines. The true sounds of earth are dwarfed by man’s inventions-this is our reality. What is our solution? What can we do to reach a contemplative state that will regenerate our souls? What are the possibilities? Walk a labyrinth, listen to nature, meditate, sing, sit in a garden, walk in a forest, or play with a dog to find your silence. Grow your internal strength and allow transformation to happen. Find the quiet spots. Where do the elderly go? Where do people take their dogs? Where do children play? Silence gives us mind focus, calms our emotions, and slows our heart rate. Perhaps the force of silence can be the change that we seek.

Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
It is very competitive for today’s artists with all of the available digital technology. It is a fast and easy process to make photos. The challenge is to think out of the box when composing images and to keep up with the latest changes in photography. Find something unique that you love to photograph. You must also be willing to enter juried exhibitions and be involved with social media and connect with others in your community. Join such organizations as Filter Photo Festival in Chicago and the certificate program at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My work will be at the David Adler Cultural Center starting October 5th, 2018 as part of a group exhibition by “Women Undefined” which will be showing abstract images representing altered reality. This group formed from the photography program at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I am also part of annual photography exhibition held each year for the students and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

People can support my work by sending me their idea of silent space or by taking one of my classes at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.diannekittle.com
• Phone: 719-252-6446
• Email: kittle.dianne@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/di_kittle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001925018637

Image Credit:
Dianne l. Kittle

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