Diana asked questions and sought to understand her life experiences and the human condition. A life-long search through the arts, philosophy, religion, medical sciences, and conversations with all who were lucky to spend time with her, she shared her vulnerability and asked about yours, "May I ask you something?"

As a visual artist, her vast body of work focused on portraits, drawn quickly, using images torn from magazines, newspapers, or photographs as reference material. She started drawing at a young age, an early talent that her family recognized, and she continued to do so during her last days at her home and in the Community Access Art Collective studio. Decades of work would go unseen by most of us, as she made decisions quickly if she liked the artwork, often disposing of pieces or kindly giving them away. "I have no conceit about my art. It's just there. Sometimes when I have a hard time, it's very good for me."

"Aristotle said art is the making of something beautiful. Couldn't that be continued today? I want to bring something that beautiful to people of today in a relaxed environment." And she did. Her neighbor and Community Access Art Collective colleague, artist Jack Horowitz, admired Diana and her work, "It's not just beautiful, it's passionate."

If forced to choose between living without visual art or music, Diana picked music, classical music, which was an appreciation deeply rooted in her family. Her addition to the collective studio playlist was Bach, "I don't care, anything Bach," followed by a pause and then the request for piano over the stringed instruments. Her second choice was Mozart. One of her morning rituals was listening to 105.9 FM WQXR Classical Morning Bach at 7:30 AM, which she shared to stay connected during the pandemic, sometimes making an early phone call to the art collective studio to ask, "Are you listening?" We miss her dearly.

Please enjoy the work of our friend, artist Diana Zelnick.

Untitled (Leaning Lady 2), 2020

More from this collection