"My art is pieces of stories of people and places I love, difficult situations, things I find comical and my hopes, dreams and actions for the world all in one."

​

Kristin Diener was born in Normal, Illinois (haha) to academic, fun, travel-loving parents of Amish

and Mennonite descent. She attended 6 different public schools by 7th grade in 3 states: New York, Georgia and Alabama. She took her first jewelry class at a small Mennonite college in Goshen, Indiana, because of an excellent teacher, Judy Wenig-Horswell, and was instantly smitten.

​

Fire. Tools. Creation. Stones. Metal. Found objects.

What better way to create objects full of energy & discourse about Politics, Beauty, Value, Trash, Treasure, Power, Plunder, History, Wonder, Spirit?

​

Diener moved to New Mexico in October 1996 after also living and teaching in Ohio, Missouri, and Massachusetts. She holds a BFA from the University of Alabama, a MFA from Bowling Green State University and has participated in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions across the country. She lives and works in Albuquerque.

 

"I collect materials as I go: candy wrappers, caps smashed in a parking lot, faceted gems, opulent cabochons, mouse bones from owl pellets, grape seeds from dinner, mica, gold, balls of clay. I am discerning as I collect and choose specific items to fulfill ideas as I create. I find satisfaction from repetition of a task or skill or component, but rarely from repetition of an object. This too

could change."