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People  •  Theatre, Music  •  Part-Time Lecturer

Diana Arcadipone

Diana Arcadipone
Diana Arcadipone

Visual Artist Diana Arcadipone’s career as a maker, educator and arts administrator spans over thirty years. She has worked in leadership positions in four private, non-profit colleges of art and design as Dean of Students, Dean of Admissions, Dean of Continuing and Professional Education and Dean of Extended Programs, from Louisville, KY to Portland, ME to Boston, MA. She has worked with numerous non-profit arts organizations and funding entities to launch and deliver programs that serve art students from high school age through to professionals and career changers. As a member of the leadership council at The Art Institute of Boston, Arcadipone worked through a merger and acquisition with Lesley College over a fifteen-year period of time.

As a dean at The Lesley University College of Art and Design, she created and launched programs and served on the university’s enrollment management team along with numerous other committees, and was awarded the President’s Impact Award. Arcadipone started and implemented an international pre-college program for high school juniors and seniors; The Young Artist Residency Program received numerous grants including a National Endowment for the Arts summer program award. Under her leadership, enrollment grew nearly 700% over ten years, expanded course offerings to over 60 visual art courses to commuters and resident students, and brought 30% of this college-age population to the admissions process after completing pre-college courses.

A particular interest of Arcadipone’s is helping artists identify and build pathways to rewarding, profitable and sustainable careers. She launched services such as the Artist Resource Center, a compendium of artist survival guides, exhibition and job opportunities, resume building workshops and interview workshops, grant writing research and portfolio development guides. She offered career building workshops to pre-college students and career changing workshops to professionals wishing to live a life in the arts.

As a practitioner, Arcadipone has exhibited her paintings and works on paper all over the US and Europe. She has received grants to support her work as an artist and most recently received a Maine Arts Commission grant to launch the Folk Art Studio – a collaborative work space in Norway, Maine where unique art and craft workshops are offered to community members at an affordable price. She is a specialist in the Book Arts and practices handmade papermaking and handmade bookbinding and is passionate about bringing traditional craft techniques together with fine art. Her works on paper often incorporate folk art techniques such as embroidery, beading and weaving with a personal narrative which is painted and written on paper with gouache and ink. She has attended artists residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada and the Dorland Artist Residency in CA. Arcadipone has taught numerous studio courses and workshops in Folk Art and the Book Arts. She is passionate about the environment, wildlife and their natural habitats, which inform the content of her artwork.

Arcadipone holds an MFA from Ohio University, Athens, in Painting and Printmaking, and a BFA in Painting from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.

Departments

Theatre, Music

Education

  • M.F.A., Ohio University
  • B.F.A., Western Michigan University