Artist:
Chapin Art Trail
A Community Art Project
CVH Remembrance Wall
Sonya Diimmler
Installed September 2018
Artist's Statement
For me the act of painting is thrilling, the energy behind the gestures and mark making involved in painting intrigue and energize me. I find immense joy in putting paint to canvas and creating something and am especially drawn to saturated colors. As a “young” painter I am still exploring subjects and jump from abstracts to landscapes to dogs and back again. They each have their emotional advantage. Abstracts are thrilling for the energy and emotion one can imbue in the mark making. I love to paint landscapes-clouds especially-the only reason I would paint a landscape is to paint clouds-because of the tie to nature. But the thing I am most passionate about painting is dogs, both mine and others. When I painted my bulldog Smedley for the first time, there was a magic moment when the likeness appeared, that is when painting caught fire in my heart and I haven’t stopped since.
About the Artwork
The colorful portraits on the fence at Chapin Veterinary Hospital on Columbia Avenue in
Chapin were painted by award winning artist Sonya Diimmler. Sonya paints colorful South Carolina lake and landscapes along with her favorite subject and muse, her bulldog Smedley and Boston Terrier Mattie, both of which are featured on the fence as well as Hooch, the beautiful Pit Bull that inspired Dr. Jamie Parnell to open her veterinary practice. The 4’ square fence portraits are done on aluminum composite panels with acrylics and UV resistant mediums to help them weather the humidity and hot SC sun. There are currently 12 portraits with plans to add more.
About the Artist
Award winning artist Sonya Diimmler paints colorful South Carolina lake and landscapes along with her favorite subject and muse her Bulldog Smedley and her Boston Terrier Mattie. Having just started painting in 2015, Sonya fell in love with the process and quickly began a daily painting practice. She continually seeks to improve through frequent workshops and has studied with Mary Bentz Gilkerson and Michael Story. In 2016 she joined the Crooked Creek Art League in Chapin where she has served as Workshop Coordinator, President and Parlimentarian.
Scavenger Hunt Clue:
A Partnership Project by the Crooked Creek Art League and the Town of Chapin
This organization is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support in this grant comes from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.
This project was supported by a Connected Communities grant from Central Carolina Community Foundation.
