"She paints enigmatic, narrative imagery, often of people engaged in moments of contemplation, a tender embrace, or tearful sorrow. Marsh’s work, crafted in varying degrees of hyperrealism, is elegiac and empathetic, expressing a sense of selflessness, devotion, and love." Michael Abatemarco, 2020, Santa Fe New Mexican
"Diane Marsh uses her artistic talent as a resource to try to save the world. Her particular message is that we all have talents which are powerful. Her message is expressed in color, light, and line. We can appreciate her message visually and morally. She helps us to remember the message of St. Francis." Sharon McCawley, 2019, New Mexico Museum of Art
"The fact that some of the animals are endangered or threatened with extinction-gives it an overall tone of melancholy. Marsh, who lives in southeastern New Mexico, paints with a sense of reverence as well as concern for life." Michael Abatemarco, 2019, Pasatiempo: New Mexican Weekly Magazine
"The notion of place as a spiritual antidote, nature as a sanctuary, is familiar in the ancient cultures of the southwest, in its art and its continuous allure for those of us from elsewhere. Sorrow is not denied, but acknowledged and transcended by earth, water, sky. In a sense Marsh’s work is a plea for understanding, a personal and unifying need or desire that is offered to the viewer as a gift." Lucy R. Lippard, 2017, Diane Marsh: Paintings 1986-2017
"Some collectors find her work too confrontational, yet others stand before it moved to tears." Dottie Indyke, 2006, Albuquerque Journal North
"The spiritual and emotional power of the exhibition is unmistakable and make its works resonate long after leaving the museum." L. Kent Wolgamott, 2005, Lincoln Journal Star
"Marsh's art is as complex and multi-directional as the “conceptual art” movement with which she shares her age. Her uses of visual realism are only an adjunct to her call for repentance, self-realization, and salvation." Blake Larson, 2002, Roswell, Daily Record
"Small but powerful, “The Awakening” conveys the sense of a move out of sadness through a revelation of hope. In a sense, that's the theme of all of Marsh's work." L. Kent Wolgamott, 2001, Lincoln Journal Star
"The painstakingly rendered faces reveal the myriad shades of pink, white, blue and yellow that collectively make up human skin tone; Marsh's control is so precise that we can clearly read the subtle flush that indicates the approach of tears. Snatches of poetry and tiny archetypal images float above her subjects' heads like ghostly thought balloons." Hart Hill ,1994, Westword
"On the one hand this is highly ephemeral art in that it deals with passing personal moments in our passing collective times. On the other hand, it's potentially enduring for exactly the same reason. The universality of art comes always out of the particular. The emphasis on anguish, as much as Marsh has made it part of her personal approach to painting, speaks also for the times." David Bell, 1991, Albuquerque Journal North
"Take Diane Marsh. She is as fascinated by strong emotional states as any of her Neo-Expressionist colleagues but conveys them clearly, unmistakably, through realist painting. The artist is her own subject, acting out common emotions that usually are embarrassing to witness. The force of the encounter --not to mention the strength of Marsh`s technique--gives the enterprise a feeling of authenticity. It is not merely the role-playing of a Cindy Sherman." Alan G. Artner, 1985, Chicago Tribune
"Even the show's one portrait painter strikes an equivocal note. Despite the fact that Diane Marsh's two canvases show women seated in at most rhythms of color and composition, any inferences we might draw about the women's situation, both physical and psychological, in the home setting are subjugated, or would be if we were not led to believe that these works are supposed to represent a feminist viewpoint. The precedent of Whistler's "Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1" comes immediately to mind as an example of how an artist's formal experimentation with a common domestic tableau is consistently injected with extra-esthetic content by those determined to read it as "Mother" rather than art." Helen A. Harrison, 1982, The New York Times
"Diane Marsh's two paintings of individual women seated in an immaculate kitchen make one ponder the price of housewifery, as everyone should. Feminist paintings, however, might better be investigated by a separate and expanded show." John Perreault ,1981, the Soho News
"Perhaps it is women's use of the grid that most implies connections and ties. Women have used the grid as a means of organizing and controlling their art much in the same way that lists organize their lives. When combined with marking, the grid is transformed from its reference to weaving, to design, decoration, and patterning." Harmony Hammond, 1981, Catalogue, HomeWork: The Domestic Environment Reflected in Work of Contemporary Women Artists.
"Diane Marsh uses her artistic talent as a resource to try to save the world. Her particular message is that we all have talents which are powerful. Her message is expressed in color, light, and line. We can appreciate her message visually and morally. She helps us to remember the message of St. Francis." Sharon McCawley, 2019, New Mexico Museum of Art
"The fact that some of the animals are endangered or threatened with extinction-gives it an overall tone of melancholy. Marsh, who lives in southeastern New Mexico, paints with a sense of reverence as well as concern for life." Michael Abatemarco, 2019, Pasatiempo: New Mexican Weekly Magazine
"The notion of place as a spiritual antidote, nature as a sanctuary, is familiar in the ancient cultures of the southwest, in its art and its continuous allure for those of us from elsewhere. Sorrow is not denied, but acknowledged and transcended by earth, water, sky. In a sense Marsh’s work is a plea for understanding, a personal and unifying need or desire that is offered to the viewer as a gift." Lucy R. Lippard, 2017, Diane Marsh: Paintings 1986-2017
"Some collectors find her work too confrontational, yet others stand before it moved to tears." Dottie Indyke, 2006, Albuquerque Journal North
"The spiritual and emotional power of the exhibition is unmistakable and make its works resonate long after leaving the museum." L. Kent Wolgamott, 2005, Lincoln Journal Star
"Marsh's art is as complex and multi-directional as the “conceptual art” movement with which she shares her age. Her uses of visual realism are only an adjunct to her call for repentance, self-realization, and salvation." Blake Larson, 2002, Roswell, Daily Record
"Small but powerful, “The Awakening” conveys the sense of a move out of sadness through a revelation of hope. In a sense, that's the theme of all of Marsh's work." L. Kent Wolgamott, 2001, Lincoln Journal Star
"The painstakingly rendered faces reveal the myriad shades of pink, white, blue and yellow that collectively make up human skin tone; Marsh's control is so precise that we can clearly read the subtle flush that indicates the approach of tears. Snatches of poetry and tiny archetypal images float above her subjects' heads like ghostly thought balloons." Hart Hill ,1994, Westword
"On the one hand this is highly ephemeral art in that it deals with passing personal moments in our passing collective times. On the other hand, it's potentially enduring for exactly the same reason. The universality of art comes always out of the particular. The emphasis on anguish, as much as Marsh has made it part of her personal approach to painting, speaks also for the times." David Bell, 1991, Albuquerque Journal North
"Take Diane Marsh. She is as fascinated by strong emotional states as any of her Neo-Expressionist colleagues but conveys them clearly, unmistakably, through realist painting. The artist is her own subject, acting out common emotions that usually are embarrassing to witness. The force of the encounter --not to mention the strength of Marsh`s technique--gives the enterprise a feeling of authenticity. It is not merely the role-playing of a Cindy Sherman." Alan G. Artner, 1985, Chicago Tribune
"Even the show's one portrait painter strikes an equivocal note. Despite the fact that Diane Marsh's two canvases show women seated in at most rhythms of color and composition, any inferences we might draw about the women's situation, both physical and psychological, in the home setting are subjugated, or would be if we were not led to believe that these works are supposed to represent a feminist viewpoint. The precedent of Whistler's "Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1" comes immediately to mind as an example of how an artist's formal experimentation with a common domestic tableau is consistently injected with extra-esthetic content by those determined to read it as "Mother" rather than art." Helen A. Harrison, 1982, The New York Times
"Diane Marsh's two paintings of individual women seated in an immaculate kitchen make one ponder the price of housewifery, as everyone should. Feminist paintings, however, might better be investigated by a separate and expanded show." John Perreault ,1981, the Soho News
"Perhaps it is women's use of the grid that most implies connections and ties. Women have used the grid as a means of organizing and controlling their art much in the same way that lists organize their lives. When combined with marking, the grid is transformed from its reference to weaving, to design, decoration, and patterning." Harmony Hammond, 1981, Catalogue, HomeWork: The Domestic Environment Reflected in Work of Contemporary Women Artists.
