Diana al-Hadid facts for kids

Fool's Gold, a sculpture by Diana al-Hadid from 2014. It's made from many materials like plaster and gold leaf.

Diana al-Hadid, born in Syria in 1981, is an American artist. She creates amazing sculptures, art installations, and drawings. She uses many different materials in her work. Diana lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her art is shown by the Kasmin Gallery.

Early Life and Art Training

Diana al-Hadid was born in Aleppo, Syria. When she was five, her family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. She grew up mostly in North Canton, Ohio. She was raised in an Islamic home.

At age 11, Diana knew she wanted to be an artist. Family trips to the Middle East inspired her. She loved visiting places like the Jeita Grotto in Lebanon. She also admired the beautiful Islamic buildings.

Diana studied art at college. In 2003, she earned two degrees from Kent State University in Ohio. She studied art history and sculpture. In 2005, she received her master's degree in sculpture. This was from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. In 2007, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. That same year, she had her very first art show by herself.

How Diana al-Hadid Creates Art

Diana al-Hadid makes sculptures using many different materials. These include steel, fiberglass, wood, aluminum, and bronze. She also uses cardboard, foam, and special types of plaster and wax.

Her sculptures are often very large. Some can be as tall as 4 meters (about 13 feet). She creates big, dreamlike shapes. These forms often look like melting or dripping buildings.

What Inspires Her Art

Much of Diana's sculpture is inspired by buildings and architecture. She also gets ideas from a style of art called Surrealism. This art style often shows dreamlike scenes. Old paintings also give her ideas.

Diana has mentioned many architectural inspirations. These include the famous Sagrada Família church. She also likes a house built by the artist Salvador Dalí. She finds beauty in the detailed designs of Islamic and Gothic architecture.

Painters like Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Cy Twombly have also influenced her. Sometimes, her later artworks include figures of people. She has said that Islamic beliefs usually do not allow pictures of people. This is something she likes to explore in her art.

Stories and Myths in Her Work

Many of Diana's sculptures tell stories or refer to myths. She uses ideas from characters like Scheherazade and Ariadne. She also gets ideas from Gradiva, a character from an old story.

Diana explains that she grew up in a culture that loves storytelling. She says her art is inspired by myths and folk tales. These come from both Western and Arabic cultures.

Other sculptors like Judy Pfaff and David Altmejd have also inspired her.

Public Art Projects

In 2018, Diana al-Hadid created her first public art project. It was called Delirious Matter. This art was placed in Madison Square Park in New York City. The project included four sculptures. They were made from polymer gypsum and fiberglass. They were placed around the park for everyone to see.

In 2019, Diana was asked to create art for the New York City subway. She made two permanent murals for the 34th Street subway station. These murals are called The Arches of Old Penn Station and The Arc of Gradiva. These artworks won awards for their design.

Awards and Art Collections

Diana al-Hadid has received many important awards for her art. In 2009, she was a USA Rockefeller Fellow. She also received a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2007, she won a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. In 2011, she received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. In 2020, she won The American Academy of Arts and Letters Art Award. In 2021, she received a Smithsonian Institution Artist Research Fellowship. This allowed her to do research at the Freer Gallery of Art.

Her artwork is held in many important collections. These include the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Her work has also been shown at the Secession in Vienna, Austria.

See also

In Spanish: Diana Al-Hadid para niños