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Diane Burke was born on December 16, 1919 in southern Georgia. Although a Georgian by birth, she moved to Central Florida with her family when she was very young.
Diane dreamed of going to college for a degree in art but because of the Depression her family could not afford the expense. After she graduated from high school, she decided to study nursing, which marked the start of her long career as a nurse, a nursing educator, and a nursing administrator
After finishing a program with a diploma in nursing Diane worked as a clinic nurse. Later she obtained a BS degree in nursing from the University of Miami (Florida), a master’s degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), and graduate studies in pediatric nursing at the University of Texas. She taught pediatric and obstetrical courses in nursing at the University of Miami and held administrative positions as Director of Nursing at Variety Children’s Hospital in Miami, FL (now Miami’s Children’s Hospital) and Supervisor of Pediatric Nursing Services at Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC.
After retiring from Duke Medical Center in 1984, Diane had the chance to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an artist. She went to workshops in Florida North Carolina Texas and at the age of 87 to Montana where she rode horseback to the painting sites. Diane’s favorite settings for paintings are on site, a painting style that “plein–air” artists like Diane use in an attempt to capture light’s changing moods and effects on their landscape scenes. Diane learned from her most influential instructor; master artist Cassandra James; that not every available color is needed on one’s palette. Diane now uses a limited palette of 5 colors plus white-alizarin crimson, phthalo blue or ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, cadmium yellow light and raw umber. She also uses only refined linseed oil as a medium. Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries in North Carolina, West Virginia and owned by collectors in a number of states, including Italy. Diane spends much of her time painting with friends and attending meetings of the various art and civic organizations to which she belongs including the Durham Art Guild, the American Impressionist Society, the Eno River Association and the Triangle Land Conservancy.
Diane Burke
Telephone Durham: 919.471.3722
Email: dburke@sprynet.com
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