Dianne (Iyan) Freeman

Dianne (Iyan) Freeman was born in The Netherlands, and has been involved in art since she was six years old; became a foster child at age10; studied at the Hinckley School in Maine, where she had her first show at age 13; graduated from Thayer Academy, Braintree, MA; and attended the Tisch School of Art at New York University on scholarship. For nearly 20 years she lived in Jamaica, much of the time in a bamboo hut atop a mountain, where she became known for her wearable art, which was sold to the tourist trade. The breadth of her art includes jewelry, ceramics, photography, collages, polymer clay, batik prints, drawing and objects of art. She has participated in UVA’s Address Unknown: Traces of Hope at the Athan’s Café Art Gallery in Brighton in 2014 and in Healthful at the Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery in 2015.

 

 

Artist Statement:

Having your heart stop is an eye opener. It makes you appreciate every breath you take, aware of how fragile life is. It doesn’t get any more poignant than that. I felt so humbled to be alive, and an intense need to create. I drew “Armadillos’ Resilience” in the recovery room after having an emergency pacemaker installed. Armadillos are inherently resilient because they use their armor to roll up in to a ball and protect themselves.

I was in the hospital for five and a half weeks, during which I began this body of work. My hospital bed became my sacred space to create art, with unbridled expression, inspired by the journey of life, taking in the beauty around me that gave me hope. I savored every moment because at the end of my hospital stay, I knew I would be returning to a shelter. I was being given back my health, only to be discharged back to circumstances that placed my life in jeopardy in the first place.

I believe in a free exchange of energy. For myself, affirmations are where I find them, and my artist’s eye leads me to abstract expressions of resilience, patience, tenacity and self worth. These qualities sustain me and my homeless brothers and sisters. My raw art in this body of work—completed in my favorite media, pen and pencil—is intended to shine a light on the plight of the homeless.

Two of my favorite works are ”The Serenity of Chaos” and “Reflection, a Self-portrait.” In the first I lose myself by being absorbed in my art, mindful of none of the chaos around me; then I find myself in my art.