Diane Mazur is an artist specializing in Paintings, Drawings, Mixed Media and Collage, Ceramic Sculpture, Wood Constructions Artworks and Installations. A colorist, she has worked with many mediums over a long career. Her work is appreciated for its vibrant color, energy and interactive qualities. She studied under James Surls at SMU in the ‘70’s, and he exhibited her paintings in the 80’s at the Lawndale Annex in Houston during the “Fresh Paint” craze. This catapulted Mazur on to the national and international scene, where she has been exhibiting ever since.

Diane’s strong early background in dance and figure drawing influenced her work as she embraced Gesture Drawing and Action Painting. Since 1978, Mazur has been exploring questions about human perception and psychology in paintings that she designs to be viewed from any direction, the “4-Way Works”. Through the process of painting on the floor, she developed a technique for creating pieces that can be viewed from any direction. She “hypnotically dances around the pieces”, impregnating them with suggestive associations from each perspective. She throws, pours and squirts her paints, working with different viscosities of oil and water-based paints to get the affects she wants. Positive and negative space sometimes transform from one viewpoint to another. Some pieces are interactive and kinetic. Mazur has presented her 4-Way Pieces on the floor, the ceiling, on clotheslines and with hardware that the spectators can physically turn. Presently, she prefers to equip these “4-Way Works” with hardware so they can be hung from any direction.

From Gesture Drawing to Action Painting, through her Collages, to the 4-Way Works and back, the figure has always informed and influenced Mazur’s work. The more abstract “4-Way Works” approach metaphysical content, such as transformation and simultaneity, while the more traditional 1-way figurative pieces usually comment more on social and political issues, many of which involve women.

Mazur has always used physical exercise as an energizer in her own work as a visual artist & dancer. Throughout her career, she has taught Dance, Creative Movement, Mat Pilates, Senior Fitness, and Gyrotonic, as well as Art. She uses extreme exercise as a part of her process to build up her energy and put her in the zone to work.

Mazur earned her BFA in Drawing from SMU (1974), her MFA in Painting from UTSA (1978),
and did post graduate work with Steve Reynolds in Ceramics. (UTSA-2000-2002). She was in
the first, revolutionary Blue Star Exhibit in San Antonio, Texas, in 1986 and helped develop the
vibrant, local art scene that San Antonio now enjoys. Diane served on the Blue Star board from
1988-1991, and curated the “Blue Star Loft Project” in 1991, placing over 150 local artists’
work in over 60,000 square feet of warehouse space under construction for lofts in the Blue
Star Arts Complex. Mazur did a Residency at the STARTsoma Gallery in San Francisco in
2003, received a Creative Capital Grant in 2010, did a Freehold Residency in Taos, N.M. in 2018, has been awarded several Individual Artist’s Grants, and has continued to run and maintain a working studio for over 45 years.

Mazur married photographer John Dyer in 1978, and they have two children and seven
grandchildren. She began teaching college art in the 80’s, and returned to teaching college
Art, Pilates and Gyrotonic when the kids left home.(2004-2017). She now works full time producing and exhibiting her artwork, participating in residencies, and running her studio.