About Diana Leone

I welcome the challenge of continually opening new doors and experimenting with new media, formats and concepts. After over 40 years of teaching art, and quiltmaking, I remain the student. The blank paper and the newly evolving image excite me. My current work in abstract figurative paintings will be posted as it happens.

I enjoy commission work in both water-media fine art and painted art quilts and welcome the opportunity to work with you. For more information on purchasing current work, and to discuss commissions, please contact me. I look forward to hearing from you!

Diana Leone is an author, teacher, fabric designer, painted textile art quiltmaker, water-media artist and a dealer of fine antique quilts.

Diana has been designing and making quilts since 1958. In 1970, she designed 20 art quilts for her Master’s Degree Exhibit at San Jose State University. One of these quilts “Faces” won best of show in 1973 at the Rotary Exhibit at the Triton Museum.

That award led to a one-woman show of Art Quilts at the Triton Museum in 1975. Soon after, Diana curated the Art Quilt Exhibition at The Craft and Folk Art Museum in San Francisco. Diana’s training in fine art directly resulted in her early creations of innovative Art Quilts. She worked with traditional patterns when writing her books, mastering the technical aspects of all phases of traditional quiltmaking. In all of the quilts Diana has made or designed, you can see the artist's creative touch in the design and in the use of color. Diana has taught all techniques, worldwide and continues to teach Color Theory and Application, Breaking the Block, Dating Quilts and Painted Art Quilts. She remains an active juror and welcomes commissions of Diana's Painted Art Quilts ©, textile designs and water-media fine art.

Diana is the author of many quilting publications, which have provided an invaluable resource for beginners and experienced hand-quilters alike. Some of the books have been translated into different languages, making them available to a wider audience of quilters.

Educated at San Jose State University, Diana received her BA Art Education, MA Art Education: Textiles-Fine Art, and Standard Life Teaching Credential; all grades. Later, she went on to teach at San Jose State, as well as High School Art and at many quilting seminars and workshops in Japan, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, United States and Canada.

In addition to quilting and teaching, Diana has designed fabric for over 20 years. Her fabric designs are available in most quilt shops, and other quality fabric stores. Diana is producing a line “California Connection“ for Northcott-Monarch, available October 2005. A few preview designs can be seen in the Surface Design section.

Around the San Francisco Bay area, Diana is best known as the owner, for many years, of The Quilting Bee in Los Altos and Mountain View. The well-known store offers a rich resource of everything for the quilter, including specialist fabrics and threads, publications, patterns, classes and displays. The tradition continues now in the cabable hands of Diana's son Eddie. In addition to The Quilting Bee, Diana also set up and managed Leone Publications and the Leone-Nii Gallery, in Mountain View, California.

More recently, Diana has moved into painting, both on fabric for her art quilts, and on canvas and paper for water-media fine-arts. Her paintings are extraordinary creations of light and color.

Diana is currently active in judging quilt exhibits, lecturing, teaching, painting watercolors and water-media painted art quilts. She continues her advanced studies in art with Mike Bailey, Skip Lawrence, Alex Powers and others.

Selected Exhibitions:

Triton Museum Rotary Show, Best of Show, Triton Museum, One Woman Exhibit 1974

Japan, Germany, Australia, US.

Curator of Sampler Quilts Then and Now, Melbourne Australia, American Museum of Textiles And Quilts, San Jose, California.

Contemporary Quilts, Mountain View Civic Center 1994-95

International Invitational Quilt Exhibit, Island of the Mainau, 1999

Current Exhibitions:

Diana's work can currently be seen in the following locations

“Into The Light” Commissioned by Art For Public Places, City of Mountain View Public Library, Franklin St. Mountain. View, California

“Earth-Cosmos” Corporate Collection: Husqvarna-Viking Sweden

“April 24th, The Day The Butterfly Was Free” Corporate Collection: Husqvarna-Viking Corporation, Germany.

"Christina", "Sedona", and "Tahoe of My Dreams" are on view at Eddie’s Quilting Bee, 264 Castro St., Mountain View, CA