Lighthouse #1

© Diane Ulmer Pedersen About the ArtistIt is hard to believe that I have now been painting in a folk art style for over half my life. What seemed like an experiment at the start seems now like a natural drawing together of many threads of my life: my traditional art style, my faith, and my fascination with our artistic and cultural history. Having taken my first lessons at the Philadelphia Art Museum before entering grade school, I can't remember life before art. I went on to earn a B.F.A. from Denison University. Then while working in an antique and decorating shop, I began painting naive portraits of children (real and imaginary). In researching the portraits, I encountered other folk art forms: landscapes, still lifes, theorem paintings, stenciling and faux graining, needlework, sculpture, scherenschnitte, etc. I became fascinated with the stylizations, the colors, the textures, and the crackled and aged finishes. The feeling of peace, light-heartedness, and friendly openness I