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Boulders |
Hacienda Gate |
Private Space $400 - Unframed 30 x 40 |
After earning a master’s degree from the University of Arizona in 1977, Diana Madaras opened a sports marketing company in Tucson, Arizona. With a staff of fourteen, she promoted major sporting events including LPGA and PGA golf tournaments. Because of her hectic business schedule, she had little time to pursue her passion for art until a professor at the University of Arizona noticed her talent and convinced her to study abroad. During a month long painting trip to Greece in 1993, Diana made the decision to sell her marketing company, open a gallery, and devote her career to painting.
Twelve years later, Diana is a widely recognized painter and one of the few artists in the country who owns her own galleries. Madaras Gallery features Diana's work exclusively, and to date, more than 12,000 people have made purchases.
A signature member of the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild, Diana is represented by galleries in the United States and in the Bahamas. She has been featured in nine one-woman shows and her art has hung in the Tucson Museum of Art. Her painting, "The Blues at Old Main," was commissioned for the cover of the University of Arizona Alumni magazine that is mailed to 150,000 UA graduates. This was only the second time in 15 years an artist's work has been featured on the cover. Recently, Diana completed commissions for Westin, Loews, and Miraval resorts. She has also created eight paintings for the estate of the former president of Mexico. Every year she does an annual show at Madaras Gallery.
Diana's unique style makes her work easily recognizable. She is known as a colorist and celebrates the subtle, natural beauty of ordinary scenes in a way that is both intense and dramatic. She paints in both watercolor and acrylic.
Diana is very active in community service and her art work has benefited more than 100 charities. As a Board member of the Boys and Girls Club, she donates $20,000 worth of paintings and art gifts to their annual auction. Her art calendar benefits the Arthritis Foundation, and in 1999 the Foundation named her “Philanthropist of the Year”. In 2000, the Rotary Club of Tucson honored her with their Four-Way Award, the highest honor given to a non-Rotarian for community service. Diana was honored as Woman of the Year by New Beginnings for Women in 2003.
In 1999, Diana established her own Foundation, "Art for Animals," to generate funds from art-related events to aid animals that are injured, ill, or abused. To date the Foundation has raised more than $50,000. Diana has said, "I feel so fortunate to be able to help others by sharing the paintings I love to create."
Diana was voted Tucson’s “Best Visual Artist" of 2004 and 2005. A total of 26 articles have been written about her and her work and she has been featured on television shows produced by NBC, CBS, and PBS affiliates.
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Southwest Scenes Notecards $17 |