Artist Interview: Allison Diesing
Allison Diesing received her BFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2019) and is working as a studio artist in Omaha Nebraska. Her work explores traditional portraiture in a contemporary setting with a strong focus on the female form. Diesing has participated in a number of exhibitions at venues such as the Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE (2017); Santa Reparata International School of Art, Florence Italy (2017); as well as the Eisentrager Howard Gallery, Lincoln, NE (2019). Diesing was a recipient of the F. Pace Woods scholarship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2018) as well as the Wendy Jane Bantam Exhibition Award (2019).
We are so happy to chat with Allison about her incredible work!
Your work is skillfully executed, can you share your background with us? What was your first interest in art? How long have you been painting?
I have been interested in art ever since I was a little girl and I always kind of knew that I wanted to be an artist. I didn’t start developing my skill seriously until I was in 7th grade and it started with a sketch book that I had. I learned how to draw mostly from watching Youtube videos of artist drawing portraits and I used to look up photos of celebrities and draw them. That’s really when my drawing skills started to develop. In high school I painted with acrylics and it wasn’t until college that I really got into oils and I loved the longer drying time and richness of oil paint.
You mention that portraiture used to represent beauty, wealth, etc. What are you aiming to depict with your work?
In my work I really want to honor the sitter and depict them in an honest and real way. There is a calm presence in my paintings and the figure has a sense of awareness that I think is important.
What do you hope to provoke within with viewer, questions or understanding? Perhaps both?
I want my work to touch on topics of beauty and the connectedness that we all share as humans. Something that I am working on in my work is expanding on diversity of people that I paint. I want to challenge beauty standards including standards around aging. I think that as a society especially for women there is a fear around aging and getting wrinkles and it’s an unhealthy fear. I am currently working on a painting of my grandmother because I think she is a beautiful woman and I have so much respect for her. I want people to be able to appreciate the aging process because with age comes so much wisdom and it shows a life that’s been lived. There is beauty in that and there is so much to be appreciated.
Has the pandemic affected your art practice? If so, how and how did you adapt?
The pandemic has actually helped my art practice because it is giving me time that I wouldn’t otherwise have to focus on my work and keep creating. Time is such a precious commodity as an artist so it has been really great to have time without the distractions of work. Painting has also really helped me to get into a better headspace and take a break from the stresses brought on by the pandemic.
We are strong believers that the more people discuss failure, the less significant the possibility of it becomes. In our society, we are so terrified of possibility of something not working out, that it halts all our efforts to begin with. We ask all of our interviewees if they can share a time where something (a project or opportunity) did not work out and how did you move forward?
Failing is something that you learn to accept early on as an artist. I can remember times in my undergrad especially where I would be nominated for an award and I wanted it so badly, but when it came time to announce the winners it wasn’t my name they were calling. It always felt so discouraging, but I kept working at it and the last two years I did win some awards so you just never know what is going to happen. The biggest thing to remember is the surest way to fail is to not try in the first place.
Any events, projects, or exhibits you'd like to share with the audience? Has any of them cancelled due to COVID?
I haven’t had any shows cancelled, but I did have a residency that was cancelled because of the pandemic. I am hoping that it will be rescheduled, but in the meantime I am continuing to paint and working on my development as an artist.
View Allison’s available work: https://www.allisondiesing.com/
Follow her on social media: FB, IG.
