Diana Reuter-Twining is that beautiful child of the sixties who, refused to give up her dreams and is now a marvelous example of all the things a woman of courage, talent and determination really can do.

Her deep desire to be an architect, momentarily squelched by a professor who said ‘architecture is a man’s world,’ has been realized through a career creating work that spans the globe. 

Her commitment to philanthropy, shared with her husband Ned Twining, has taught her that one person can make a big difference almost anywhere in the world if you make intelligent decisions and practice serious stewardship.

Diana’s love of the natural world was born on a farm in Aldie where she spent her summers and has infused every aspect of her life and work. It is this passion which might prove to be her true legacy.

“I love the country life,” she explained.  “ I have enormous respect for the strength it takes to live the true country life.”

“My parents, Dr. Turner and Nancy Reuter, live in Aldie on the farm where my father’s mother was born.  I have always loved it there, and, although I spent a lot of time traveling and working in my architectural firm in Washington, D.C., I was delighted to return here to live.”

A graduate of art history from Hollins Diana’s first job after college was with the architectural firm of VVKR. She worked with Design Collaborative as the interior designer whose job was to liaison with the firm’s architects for the headquarter of Satellite Business Systems in Tysons Corner.

Working with these architects re-ignited Diana’s desire to pursue architecture and she enrolled in Catholic University where she received her Masters Architecture.  She opened her own firm in Washington afterwards and together with Kaya Arikoglu, they formed the firm Architectural Associates. Together they designed projects here and abroad.

With the recession in the early 90’s Diana experienced first hand what it was like to be in an environment where no one was building. Meeting Ned Twining in 1991 changed her focus.

It was Ned’s passion for enlightened philanthropy and his sense of adventure that took them to Southern Africa where they worked with South Africa National Parks to work on an initiative which would establish a project called The Conservation Science Centres.

“Having the opportunity to travel throughout Southern Africa for 5 years visiting game preserves and parks changed my life forever.” 

Diana was inspired to pursue a life long passion for sculpture and upon her return and with the encouragement of Ned, she enrolled in the Corcoran School of Art’s sculpture program. She soon realized that what she really need was to study with artists’ who shared her same interest in the lost wax method of bronze casting and the genre of animalier art and she went to Loveland, Colorado, the center of the sculpture world to take a course with David Turner.

“David Turner, who taught my class, was so encouraging.  I have to admit that in the company of so many truly established artists, I felt out of my league.  At one time, I was certain I had to give up, but David said “Virginians never quit!” so I kept going.”

It took months for Diana’s first sculpture to arrive at home in Aldie. It was a baboon.

“It was so exciting,” she laughed.

Today Diana’s elegant gallery in Middleburg showcases her beautiful sculptures of animalier art. The genre that was made famous by Rembrandt Bugatti. Often described as the back room of the art world, this genre elevates the natural world to an established subject..

Several years ago her parents commissioned her to do a sculpture for the grey-green garden. ”To have my parents’ gardens at Glenstone as a stage for my work has been the opportunity of my lifetime to study design and scale of monumental sculptures.”

Her new book ‘BRONZED, Into the Garden,’ articulates what it is about art that she finds so compelling. “It was in the Mannerism  period (and the Age Reason) at the end of the Renaissance that art reflected man’s realization that he was no longer the center of the universe. It would not be uncommon to come around the corner in a garden and see a monumental insect staring at you from the end of an allee. Diana says that sculpture might be better judged by the questions posed to the viewer.

To see a Diana’s ‘Honey Comb’ five feet tall and 6 feet wide with faceted amber glass and placed in perfect hexagonal cells begs us to imagine what else we are missing in this macro world and how these creatures interact with our own.

While working on her monumental Grasshopper Diana says that she felt that she was working on a mechanical toy.

Since her initial acceptance into the art world at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in 1998 until today, Diana exhibits at venues throughout the United States. Her work has been shown at the National Sculpture Society. NYC; Brookgreen Gardens, Center for American Sculpture; Birds In Art (Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum); Animals in Art, Art and the Animal Kingdom; The Rainforest Foundation and Artists for Conservation.

When asked if she misses architecture she says she hasn’t left it. The founders of the National Sculpture Society were primarily architects. Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright integrated their sculpture into their buildings.

When asked, as she often is, how long it takes to create a sculpture  “It takes me a lifetime and six months to create a piece,” she explains. 

For Diana Reuter Twining, the need “to feed her head” as a young woman, is still alive and well and working hard to re-balance the world’s understanding of the power of the natural world.

Her new book “Bronzed, Into the Garden” is available at her gallery or by visiting her website at www.bronzed.net

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