Photo by Wanda Jackson. On Jan. 8, at the Ratner Museum's opening reception for a photography exhibit, Lanham-based artist Diane Tuckman shares her photographic experiences.

Published on: Thursday, January 12, 2012

By Wanda Jackson

A group show which includes photographs by Prince George’s County artist Diane Tuckman is on view at the Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum in Bethesda through Jan. 29.

Titled “As I See It,” the exhibit focuses on eight photographers and includes color and black-and-white images in a variety of styles and subjects. Other artists featured in the exhibit are Daniel Brooking, Katherine Drew Dilsworth, Chris Hanessian, My Phuong Nguyen, Michiko Mitsuyasu, Alan Russ and Duncan Whitmaker.

Tuckman, who lives in Lanham, produces distinctive, haunting portraits, often using the mundane particulars of everyday lives to heighten our sense of her subjects’ individuality.

In her images for the exhibit, Tuckman captures such peculiar details as a hairless cat, “flying guitars” in the window of a music shop, a shoe found on the beach or flowers illustrating the beauty surrounding us.

In “interactive Clown,” Tuckman’s central character performs a brief mime of someone taking a photograph.

Tuckman’s photograph appears to make us remember our connection to every other living creature on the planet and our responsibility to each other.

Some of the best moments in photography come from unexpected moments, Tuckman said.

“I’m always looking for interesting things, the flying guitars or the shoe on the beach,” said Tuckman, whose images were captured in France, El Salvador and New Mexico. She considers every subject worthy of attention.

Tuckman also is a silk painter and has co-authored three books about silk painting — “The Complete Book of Silk Painting,” “Creative Silk Painting” and “The Best of Silk Painting.”

Tuckman was born in Egypt, where she attended British Missionary School, a private school in Heliopolis, Egypt. She became fluent in English, French and Arabic. Most of her teen years were spent in Paris, France, where she spent the majority of her time visiting the museums of Paris and traveling throughout Europe. In the mid-1960s, she and her husband moved to the United States, initially to Delaware and subsequently to the Washington, D.C., metro area, where she taught French in a Maryland elementary school. Her love of art, and her father and uncle’s fabric dye and paint import-export business introduced her to the “world of silk painting.” 

Tuckman is a self-taught artist who has dedicated herself to studying everything about her craft and who enjoys sharing her images and expertise.

The Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum is located at 10001 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda. The gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Visit the museum’s website at www.ratnermuseum.com.