Dianne Dorsey

by Christi Marsico
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:49 PM MST

Dianne Dorsey finds freedom in creating wonders out of wood.

She considers herself a "free range mail lady" when it comes to her full-time job in the Mail/Shipping-Receiving Department at Casper College.

"When you are working with wood, you can't make something out of it that it won't let you because it's living and breathing," Dorsey said.

Growing up in the woodlands of Missouri, Dorsey moved to Wyoming almost 30 years ago and toted more than the walnut totem pole she carved with her.

"When I moved here, I brought a U-haul and my mother looked in the back of it, and I didn't have a washer or a dryer or a refrigerator or furniture; I had a whole Uhaul of wood logs," she said. "I think it'll last me my life time."

With as many wood projects Dorsey has done and plans to do, time will tell if those logs will last.

Earning double degrees in art history and graphics from Casper College, Dorsey has other accolades among her wood creations.

Having a passion and appreciation for the Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center (NIC), she just "can't say enough good things about the NIC and how they bring artists and the community together," she said.

Dorsey has participated in the NIC's annual "Postcards from the Wild West" show since it originated. In 2004, one of her postcards was chosen for the Museums' permanent collection.

In 2006, she participated in the NIC's "Windows of Wyoming (WOW)" project and currently has a banner in the NIC's downtown Banner Project.

Dorsey's trout banner is displayed in front of the Atrium Plaza, located on the corner of Wolcott and Second streets.

When it comes to inspiration for her art, Dorsey's muse is nature. She believes it is good to have organic things surround her, especially fish.

"I love fish," Dorsey said as she displayed a wood mask, "Brookie-Man," which she carved out of wood specifically for her husband.

Dorsey has done hundreds of wood cut pieces and saves most of them because they have to be carved one at a time, bringing something of herself to it.

Carving wood masks such as "Elvis" and "Greenie" with particular people in mind, Dorsey incorporates other details, such as beads and medallions, to create the overall mood of the mask.

"I made Elvis as a good luck charm for a friend of mine who was sick," she said.

The mask "Greenie" had a bright array of little fish that dangled from its chin and according to Dorsey, it took her a while to carve each of the fish to ensure their distinctiveness.

Among her range of wood cut carvings, she enjoys taking some of her pieces a step further with print making.

There are three main steps to Dorsey's print making process.

The first step is to evenly roll ink over the wood cut piece. She then applies rice paper to the wood cut, and then gently presses the paper with a wood tool or sometimes a rice paddy.

She finishes the print making process by carefully pulling the rice paper off the wood cut piece.

"I prefer things that are done by hand, because I am a very tactile person," Dorsey said.

After she makes her unique prints, she lets her creative spirit flow as she decides to paint, hang or sew them into other things, or let them be.

Being a wife, mother, grandmother and working full time, Dorsey said, "If you define an artist as thinking about it, doing it, creating it everyday and dealing with it, then yes, I'm an artist; I pretty much breathe it."

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