Diana Manchak
Diana Manchak has been working in clay since 1989. After a long career in the travel industry she returned to the academic world and reinvented herself with a Fine Arts degree in Ceramics. A lifelong interest in art, art history, archaeology and design coupled with her experiences derived from living in Africa and traveling very widely while in the travel industry; provide a wellspring for her creativity. Southwestern US, African or Far Eastern styles, together with an ongoing interest in contemporary design, shape and texture are visual influences in her work.
Diana employs many different techniques employed by artists working with clay, and produces a versatile range of work categorized as functional, sculptural, abstract or decorative. Using techniques of wheel throwing, extrusion, hand building from coil, slab or sculptural modeling of clay, she creates a broad repertoire of work. She likes to explore and push the boundaries of manipulating the three dimensional qualities of clay while enjoying the creative flow of ideas that arise when alternating between functional and non-functional work. Her textured finishes may be very detailed and are created by employing one or more methods of carving, stretching, incised drawing, and/or impressing found objects or materials. A sense of harmony, balance and fluidity is integral to her designs, relating to both shape and textural finish. She mixes her own glazes from the raw materials to achieve a variety of color and texture to enhance the surface decoration. Functional ware is glazed with food safe glazes fired to cone 6 or 1240 C / 2264 F which vitrifies both clay and glaze.
Diana’s philosophy is that work created by hand should communicate a sense of the human touch and that every piece of work, whether simple in design and use, or ornate and decorative should have a distinct and unique personality. Working with clay is a lifelong learning process; each piece is a culmination of ones’ own successes and failures along the way. Fired clay - made in any shape or form can last for thousands of years - it is a lasting voice to ongoing generations, and so Diana also actively recycles clay materials and supplies used in her work and strives to make contemporary work to be used today, and yet, allow continuing resources for the next group of artists.
An assortment of show awards and recognition hand around in her studio and locally she has work at: CalvART Gallery in Prince Frederick, Md., the Northend Gallery in Leonardtown, Md., and other Pa. galleries. She has been and instructor since 1994 and is currently the Clay Instructor/Studio Manager at Harmony Hall Regional Center located in Fort Washington, Md.
Diana can be reached at: designsinclay@hotmail.com
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