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Date: 3/8/2022
SOUTH HADLEY – Dianne Chagnon was born and raised in South Hadley. During COVID-19, Chagnon retired to take care of her elderly mother. With more free time, she discovered her passion for painting, which led to the start of her two-month art exhibit currently on display at the South Hadley Public Library.
According to Chagnon, during the pandemic, she began to see Facebook painting webinars pop up. As someone who has always been artistic, she decided to give them a try.
“I have always been very crafty or artistic. I had never really done any painting other than just painting on wood back in the 80’s, the Welcome Geese, that kind of thing,” she said. “So when I saw all these webinars popping up during COVID-19, there was one that caught my attention and I liked the style of painting so I attended the webinar online and at the end of the webinar I was just like ‘I’m doing this’ and I signed up for the five painting course.”
Chagnon quickly found her niche and works primarily in the style of contemporary impressionistic textured acrylic paintings. She said that her work is meant to be touched as well as viewed.
As her collection of pieces began to grow, she decided to try and display her work.
“I realized that I had so many paintings, I had upwards of 50 paintings, and they were cluttering up my hallway upstairs and I thought that I’ve got to do something with these instead of leaving them in the hallway all by themselves,” said Chagnon.
Chagnon decided to approach the local library and said that Director Joe Rodio happily agreed to display her work during the months of February and March.
The display showcases different seasons and is mostly landscape paintings and florals. With the exhibit, Chagnon said she was mostly looking for feedback.
“I’m new at this. I’m not a professional painter. I’m just somebody who tried this and had a little bit of a knack for it and I really had no expectations putting my paintings up there. What I really wanted was feedback and to see if people like this kind of painting,” she said.
So far, she has had a positive response and has even sold nine of her paintings.
“People have liked the paintings. I’ve had people tell me they liked every single painting on the wall and they had to choose one and they chose it, but again, that wasn’t my goal really to sell it was more to let other people enjoy it and see if people liked it,” said Chagnon.
With the funds from the exhibit, Chagnon said she is hoping to plan a trip to Italy with her family to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of her and her husband.
Chagnon has another exhibit lined up for July. Until then, she said that she plans to continue painting and pursuing this passion.
“That is the goal, to keep going with it. I enjoy painting. I find myself, I get up and I want to paint,” she said.
Those looking to contact Chagnon about her work or for possible commission pieces are encouraged to email her at dcart.diannechagnon@gmail.com.