Facial expressions fuel Diane Markley’s creativity

Upon entering Diane Markley’s home, one cannot help but notice an old wooden ironing board framed by an archway leading into a hallway. On further inspection, a woman’s face seems to float as it emerges from the dark wood. Done in pastel, the painting is called “Shaped to Serve,” and was once displayed at Opportunity Christian Fellowship on Pines. “It was part of a ministry emphasis,” said artist Markley, “where some members of the congregation presented their particular gift in serving the Lord.”

Markley did not find her gift until after she was 50 when, after years of homemaking, she decided to go to college. She sketched a bit before that and recognized that she had a natural ability to draw faces but it was college that gave her the courage to move forward with her creativity.

Newly divorced and an empty nester, Markley, 67, earned her bachelor’s degree from Whitworth in 1991, where, in her senior year, she won a talent award of $1,200.

Her favorite media are pastels and clay. Both allow her to touch the work.

“Pastels are so immediate and there’s no messy cleanup,” Markley said, “and it’s very palpable. I use my fingers a lot to smear colors.”

Her clay sculptures are also very hands-on. She hand-forms the initial shape, and smoothes, pinches, and adds or subtracts clay until the final product is what she envisioned.

Her subjects are primarily people. Her Spokane Valley studio is testimony of her fascination with human expressions. Clay busts and pastel portraits of children and adults fill the room as if some kind of gathering were taking place. The two-dimensional sketches look as three-dimensional and alive as her sculptures through her use of shadowing. Some of the subjects seem to be leaning in toward the viewer, about to share a secret, while others share a range of emotions.

Currently she is working on a pastel portrait of her pastor’s parents, and a Native American clay face that, while still in the works, is kept wrapped in a cloth so it does not dry out.

While she hasn’t officially had a show of her work, she hopes to in the future. Her latest piece, a bust of a mother and child titled “In His Image” will be displayed during the downtown art walk this month in a Raw Space show, which is a collection of many artists showing in whatever building, room or gallery that might be available.

Besides doing pastels and clay sculptures, Markley also writes. She dabbles in poetry and has written and illustrated a children’s book that she sold at church with the proceeds going to missions. It is a Christmas book called “This Mouse and That Cat.” One poem that she wrote called “Bearer of Life” ends with “Not that I understood it then – His plan that I should be – the first bearer of life in His image – Eve.”

Markley cherishes life and that is evident in her creations.