Each month the Arts Commission recognizes individuals or groups who have made a significant contribution to the artistic and cultural life of the Santa Clarita Valley. This month they recognized Dianne Foderaro for her work as an educator and artist who shares her passion for the arts with children and adults through the ARTree organization and through her work as a professional artist.
Dianne is an artist and a teacher with thirty years of teaching experience in the Saugus Union School District. During those years, she was named Teacher of the Year in 1990. Dianne spent two summers teaching with the Von’s Teach the Teachers technology program in Ojai, California. She has a Master of Arts degree in education with an emphasis on art and completed research proving the importance of drawing in the development of visual perceptual skills. Dianne’s grant-funded projects include guiding students to design and create public murals as well as the development of student-based video projects.
As a welded metal artist, Dianne creates whimsical life-sized people. All of her pieces include recycled materials. She has two public art pieces installed in Santa Clarita – a trailhead piece, “Crossroads at Iron Horse Trailhead,” developed collaboratively with Idelle Okman Tyzbir, and a second piece, “The Spirit of Santa Clarita,” on the South Fork Trail. Her works are part of private collections throughout California. With two grown children and four grandsons, Dianne enjoys bringing an interest in the arts to her own family as well as to the children of Santa Clarita.
