Meet Chelle Diederich!

Fun Facts:

• I am a pet mom to two dogs (Calvin Dominic and Jason Boyd) and two cats (Greer Adeline and Oslo Bjorn).
• My favorite food is Mac & Cheese pizza.
• I got my Bachelor of Arts degree in Art, Business Administration, and French from Monmouth College, and I got my Master of Business Administration degree from St. Norbert College.
• The sound of clocks and watches ticking makes my skin crawl. 
• At home, my go-to coffee is a cold brewed coffee with a chai tea packet and then served with carbonated water. 
• I have somewhere between one and two tattoos.
• Most of my clothes are from vintage sellers and T.J.Maxx. 
• I love the Olympics, and for a brief period of time after the 2000 Sydney Olympics, I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer. That dream did not come true in the way I expected, but I swam in the Sydney Aquatic Center, stood on the medal podium, and got a gold medal pin. 

I grew up Catholic, and from a young age, I was more entranced by the beauty of the space than by the Word. I would find myself lost in the herringbone pattern of the bricks on the floor or the entrancing colors in the stained glass. The church I grew up attending had a modern aesthetic, but it maintained the distinctly Catholic ornateness that leans towards maximalism. Even though I am no longer Catholic, whenever I travel, I search out Catholic places of worship because the stained glass calls to my heart. There is so much beauty, color, and light to be found - especially in gothic cathedrals. I find a delicate juxtaposition between the intricate details of the rough stone architecture and the soft and expressive storytelling in the stained glass. ​

It wasn’t until I visited the Morse Museum filled with Tiffany stained glass that I truly saw the medium in a secular way. There were nature scenes, botanicals, and non-objective pieces. There were windows large and small, lamps, trinkets, and all sorts of other objects to tempt the eyes. Visiting the Morse Museum was also the first time that I saw stained glass up close and was able to truly see the beauty and depth in each shard of colored glass. Before the visit, I hadn’t realized that the shards weren’t solid colors - instead they held a wealth of color and variety that had to be appreciated up close.

That visit set my artwork into motion. I wanted to combine my innate love of color and oil paint with this stained glass aesthetic. ​

While I am an oil painter, I have a somewhat untraditional process. I thin them out and build up layers of color and mystery. The mineral spirits react in unique ways to the different chemicals in oil paint, and so there is always an element of experimentation and serendipity. Because the layers are thin, they don't hide any mistakes from previous layers. To me, it feels like this wonderful metaphor for life. I can’t hide or change what has happened in the past; all I can do is keep moving and work to make the situation as beautiful as possible.

With my stained glass paintings, I am looking to build my own cathedral of sorts.  When I have big feelings or thoughts that are capturing my attention, I make paintings about them. Instead of scenes from the bible, my stained glass depicts what is happening in my brain. Color plays a large role in my artwork. I am especially drawn to bright, bold colors and color combinations that challenge the norms. I think of colors on the canvas like characters acting on stage. They have an ability to convey emotion and give life to a painting. Bright colors also have the ability to elicit joy, and I want my paintings to bring joy into the lives of those that view them. ​