About diana ahrens

Diana Ahrens’ work has an uplifting appeal to many people.  Her brilliant colors and unique artistic technique have awarded her distinction as a truly innovative artist. Diana’s work has been seen in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and has been sold across the country and internationally.

Diana Ahrens began her artistic career in 1979 painting aerial photography in Toledo, Ohio. Later, in 1991, she apprenticed as a stain glass artist at Cristallo Glass Studio in Toledo.  After her apprenticeship there, she studied with a 5th generation glass master from Germany.

She designed and built custom stain glass windows and other works, both original and antique while at the Cristallo Studio. In 1994 Diana created a glass mosaic dining tabletop for the Andy Warhol "Art for Campbell Soup" contest.  Diana’s piece was later displayed in the Whitney.

For fourteen years she and her husband worked from their studio in Northern Nevada, attending fine art events in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. In the summer of 2010 she and her husband relocated to Northwest Georgia where her studios are presently located.  She currently shows her work at fine art events in the Midwest and Eastern United States.  Her work has been shown fine art galleries across the United States including wineries in Napa/Sonoma, Palm Springs, CA. and has been acquired by private collectors worldwide.

color sculptures

Ahrens’ latest work involves melting glass on hand-hammered copper. After extensive research and experimentation over 15 years, she finally achieved her goal to create Large Scale Vitreous Enamel artwork - melted glass on hammered copper.

Ahrens begins with 99.9% pure copper, and using the ancient techniques of Repoussé and Chasing, she sculpts the copper to achieve a bas-relief (low relief). The copper must be annealed by inserting it into the furnace frequently as hammering the copper causes work hardening making it extremely difficult to sculpt. Stainless steel supports are TIG welded to the back of the sculpture to support the piece during firing and to facilitate mounting once the artwork is completed.

Finely ground vitreous enamel is then fused to the copper in a complex multi-layer process. Exact furnace temperatures, firing times, and volumes of glass are required to achieve stable glass layers on the copper. Glass is applied in either a dry form or in a wet form painting technique. Other materials include fine silver and 24k gold may also be included.

Each layer is fired in the furnace at approximately 1500°F. A layer is fired, removed from the furnace, cooled, the next layer applied, and the piece is returned to the furnace. A piece can be fired up to 40 times depending on the effect desired.

Sculpted Paintings

Over many years, Diana Ahrens has created her unique mixed-media, sculpted painting technique. It has been an evolution from high-end stained glass work and glass mosaic design to this wonderful, thick painting style which incorporates oils, acrylics, metals, and hot and cold worked glass.

Each original painting starts on hand-stretched canvas.  Her rich impasto textures are layer upon layer of her own custom mixes of oils, fine acrylics, powders, metal leaf, glass and enamel.