Diane Barnes – lino cutter and printmaker

Biography

Diane Barnes studied jewellery at art college and is a self-taught printmaker. She currently lives and works in Leeds, where she produces multi-coloured linocuts using the reduction method in which the same block is cut and overprinted many times. She has developed unusual rolling techniques to achieve a variety of textural effects and glazes which are often mistaken for watercolour. Recent work includes etched linocuts. She has been described as a ‘wildlife artist’ with success in both exhibitions and competitions relating to wildlife. However the images she depicts illustrate not only an interest in the countryside and in environmental issues, but in travel and the urban surroundings in which she lives. Diane exhibits both nationally and internationally. Part-time, she teaches adults with profound disabilities and runs printmaking workshops and demonstrations. She has also been artist in residence in a variety of situations – she has taught lino cutting to children aged 8+ and screen printing to those aged 5+. Her work has received funding, sponsorships and grants from several organisations. In 1998 she was commissioned by the ‘New Internationalist’ to illustrate their year 2000 calendar with a promotion exhibition in York in autumn 1999.