Diane Schroeder is a Chicago-based artist whose work lives at the intersection of memory and imagination. Drawing on early twentieth-century photography, fashion, cinema, and art history, she reassembles fragments of the past into layered mixed-media compositions that feel both timeless and newly awakened.

Influenced by Art Deco elegance, Surrealist distortion, and the quiet power of vintage portraiture, her practice moves between nostalgia and reinvention. She approaches each piece like a visual puzzle, layering black-and-white imagery with color, texture, and pattern until the figures emerge within carefully constructed worlds.

Having studied painting and art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Diane’s work reflects both formal training and a lifelong fascination with aesthetics that once shaped culture. Through her evolving collections, she invites viewers to reconsider forgotten glamour, shifting narratives, and the enduring presence of women across time.

Her work has been exhibited in Chicago and Portland, which includes both independent studio practice and commissioned portrait work.