Italian Garden. Diane Kilgore Condon, artist
By Gina Malone
Diane Kilgore Condon believes that human beings operate in three realms—the physical, the mental and the spiritual—and that neglect of any one of these results in something like a death of the soul. “Art feeds all three,” she says. “All of the arts do this.”
Born in Wisconsin, she grew up in Florida and has lived in Greenville, SC, since arriving there in 1983 to attend college. She was fortunate growing up to have a grandmother, Helen Kilgore, who painted. “A teacher by profession, she taught me to coax the greatest flavor and beauty out of every mundane thing,” Kilgore Condon says, “leading to an incredibly rich life, full of interest, full of amazement.” She remembers the night her grandmother invited her and all of her cousins outside to watch a sunset that “set an alfalfa field ablaze in saturated bright transparent green and yellow,” she says. “She got us there in time to catch that moment. And then we walked back with fireflies in the tall grass all around the path.” She recalls “the smell of that darkness falling, fragrant, and rich with long shadows.”
The Blue Goose. Diane Kilgore Condon, artist
She studied art in college, then worked for 10 years in corporate retail in visual merchandising. “The work involved a tremendous amount of shifting product to catch the eye of the consumer,” she says. There were “mannequins, which I disliked; merchandising, which I was neutral about; and making huge displays out of virtually nothing and anything, which I loved!”
When she left the job, she took a “rough little studio” in downtown Greenville and began painting in earnest. When the building sold, she needed a place to work and so set about to turn the building into art studios for herself and others. “I bought the building with—frankly—God’s help,” she says. “There’s just no other explanation as to how that happened. And so we just embarked on the adventure of our lifetime—my friends and I and my fortuitous choice of a brilliant builder, my husband Michael.” The project grew into ArtBomb Studios. On Saturday, May 18, from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., ArtBomb Studios will hold its 23rd annual Spring Show.
A woman who visited her studio used an expression—“the film of the mind”—that spoke volumes to Kilgore Condon and showed her how her own life and its translation into art plays out. She was “describing how a glimpse of something becomes a moment so tangible, so heartbreakingly fleeting, that you can almost feel it evaporate,” Kilgore Condon explains. “So you stamp it on your memory to keep it forever.” It’s what she did the night her grandmother took her out to see the sunset. “I am sure those moments get recreated over and over,” she says. “All those longhand memories, when everything seemed astonishing and new. I still have those moments now, and especially when I travel—even to little local places I haven’t been before.”
Garden Warren. Diane Kilgore Condon, artist
The cover image of this issue of The Laurel is a prime example of Kilgore Condon’s use of her storehouse of memories and sensations. Its origins lie in a time when her family was stuck in traffic outside Venice, Italy. Her daughter was four years old at the time. “We were in stand-still traffic after a full day of driving,” she remembers, “sitting in the car on a road in an industrial/farming area at the base of the Dolomites. The sun was setting, and a large blue-gray goose came waddling down a dirt road toward the stopped cars. Behind the leader were 15 ducks and a few young geese in a ragged, noisy line.” Her daughter was afraid, she says, that the birds would be hurt if the cars started moving. Although unsure about the temperament of the big goose, she and her daughter walked past them in the tall grass and her daughter began honking. And, Kilgore Condon says, “they all turned around and followed her back to safety, waddling and beeping amongst themselves.” Her daughter is in college now and this remains a favorite memory.
“Diane’s love for the animals she paints is so apparent in her work,” says Suzanne Camarata, owner of The Gallery at Flat Rock, which represents her work. “I marvel at her ability to convey a sense of safety, warmth and freedom in the natural world that viewers can then bask in for themselves.”
Vortex. Diane Kilgore Condon, artist
Kilgore Condon says that she is driven to work. During the pandemic, she went to her studio and painted every day along with fellow artist and friend Katie Walker. “It was our response to not only the illness but also to the strangeness of the whole time. We turned the ugly into something hopeful.” And, she adds, they could not keep up with the demand for their artwork during that time.
“I was quiet as a child,” Kilgore Condon says, “watching everything and roaming alone through the woods and trees and acreage of the places we lived. I saw many beautiful and astonishing things, but couldn’t share them. I fully believe I am sharing those days now.”
ArtBomb Studios is located at 1320 Pendleton Street, Greenville, SC. Follow on Instagram and Facebook. ArtBomb Studios’ annual Spring Show will be held May 18, 6:30–10 p.m. Find Diane Kilgore Condon’s work regionally at The Gallery at Flat Rock, 2702-A Greenville Highway, Flat Rock. To learn more, visit GalleryFlatRock.com or call 828.698.7000. Her work is also exhibited at Toby West Antiques, Cashiers.
