Sonya Diimmler is known for her dramatic use of color in her dreamy contemporary landscapes and bold abstracts. The largely self taught artist was featured at Columbia Metropolitan Airport in 2021 and has had several shows at Rob Shaw Gallery in West Columbia. Last October Sonya was the featured artist for USC’s School of Music’s edgy Southern Exposure concert and a featured artist at MIRCI’s 2024 52 Windows. Currently a dynamic collection of Sonya’s abstracts is on display at the new Soulhaus Gallery in Columbia’s trendy Vista district district and her landscapes are available at High Noon in Ballentine and The Houston House in Chapin.

Sonya has been involved with public art both as an artist and an administrator; having assisted in developing Crooked Creek Art League’s very colorful public art presence in Chapin. Her wildly popular sailboat “Ship of Drools” from CCAL’s The Arts Sail into Chapin project is on permanent public display at 500 Columbia Ave in front of Chapin Veterinary Hospital along with the large format portraits the practice commissioned in 2018.

Artist Statement

Painting is –regardless of subject– an emotional and physical response to the world. My process is an alla prima pouring out of paint and silenced emotions. Their escape onto the canvas informs my style, my voice. Whether painting colorfully exaggerated landscapes or abstracts, it is the energy of mark making – the full body engagement of line and gesture, that makes art making so exciting, so satisfying, providing some sort of elusive existential balm, a fusion of self and the cosmos. For this reason, I prefer to paint large and loose without regard for the details of realism. – Sonya Diimmler