Diane Hause PRESS AND REVIEWS

Visual Arts: Object Lessons: Exhibiting an affinity for the spiritual

Diane Hause is one of those Castleberry pioneers. In 1999, she converted an automotive warehouse in the downtown neighborhood into a studio/exhibition space, which now features a 20-year retrospective of her multifarious work.

She makes large expressionist canvases, using a vivid palette and stylized forms, figure drawings, prints and collages. Her sources include her often prescient dreams and contemporary politics. She exhibits a spiritual bent.

"Convergence," a particularly effective collage on a circular canvas, is the last of a series called "A Convergence of Faiths." In this piece, Hause deftly juxtaposes images of the Torah, the Bible and the Quran to create a collision of lettering.

The Western Wall and the skyline of Jerusalem appear in the background. The face of Osama bin Laden is visible under a small plastic dome where the books converge, but Hause, ever the optimist, has painted two doves of peace on the plastic. Hope, she says, is all we have.

—Catherine Fox for the Journal-Constitution