Diana Solís is a visual artist and art educator who received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Diana works as a teaching artist for Urban Gateways and has taught for over 30 years with many art programs and community art partnerships in Chicago, including the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, El Elevarte Art Studio in Pilsen, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, Gallery 37, and the former Jane Addams Center-Hull House on North Broadway. For the last five years she has been a teaching artist with Changing Worlds; four of those years she has worked as artist-in-residence at Calmeca Fine Arts Academy where she teaches painting, drawing, illustration, and 3D sculptural installation.
Her work has been exhibited widely throughout Chicago in various galleries, alternative spaces, and museums. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the National Museum of Mexican Art, and has shown nationally at different universities, museums, and galleries including the National Hispanic Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and internationally in Barcelona, Berlin, and Mexico City.
“Since 1976, I have produced and exhibited artwork, and connected with diverse audiences as a visual artist and art educator,” Diana said. “My art practice goes beyond the studio, as I have become more involved in public art projects. At the same time, it is intertwined with my teaching practice which stems from the belief of the power of the arts to challenge, transform, and empower youth and communities. What is most important for me as a teaching artist is to engage youth and to involve them in learning about the arts and the art-making process through hands-on, collaborative art projects that inspire them to have far reaching consequences not only in their personal lives, but connecting these inspirations to the greater community.”