Lynn Di Nino - Artist, Instructor, Entrepreneur

Born in Roswell, New Mexico earlier last century, I moved with my family to various parts of the American West before arriving in Seattle in 1969, where I lived 32 years before moving to Tacoma. Former occupations include: cartographer, architectural draftsperson, and recreational therapist in a mental health center.

A freelance artist since 1974, I am completely self-supporting through private commissions, shows and galleries. Experienced in many media, my current work specializes in stylized animal sculpture with a welded steel skeleton finished with a concrete veneer, and may include household objects for body parts. Over the last several years my work has also included furniture animals: tables, chairs, and lamps. My goal is to capture the essence of the animal through its recognizable silhouette and thereby convey its beauty and global significance with a humor that honors its spirit. I don’t always use the "right colors".

From 1976 to 1981 I enjoyed a 5-year association with Friends of the Rag, a group of nationally recognized artists creating wearable art. My pieces were seen in over 35 shows, most notoriously:

• Claes Oldenburg Show at Seattle Modern Art Museum
• Sam and Andy (Andy Warhol), Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
• Traveling Modes and Devices, an NEA funded presentation performed twice at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Besides studying animals of the Pacific Northwest, I have studied animals in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda in 1986. I traveled to Australia for this purpose in 1989, and I was a member of the Washington State Arts Educators Delegation to the People’s Republic of China during the Summer of 1988. In October 1991, I was hosted in Russia in a 30 day Artist Exchange program. I also traveled to Japan in 1993 and 1994 in order to design and create Japanese endangered animal mechanical costumes for theatrical performances of the company Furusato Caravan.