Diane Hodges Spotlight
Diane Hodges
Written by Nor Osborne, January 2025
To Diane Hodges, art is more than the act of creation. It’s the gratifying feeling of coming home.
The first time she felt the warm embrace of art was in college, as she studied psychology at Wittenberg University. Through the psychology program, Diane was sent to work at the Camarillo State Hospital in California, working one-on-one with autistic kids. It was there she learned what art therapy was.
“There was an art therapist that was there at the same time, and she let me join her sessions. I had never heard of art therapy, but when I joined, it truly resonated and just hit like home. I knew it was what I was supposed to be doing.”
Growing up, Diane had always loved art. Inspired by her great aunt, Mary Sherwood Wright Jones, a professional artist and co-founder of Licking County Arts, she loved to engage with the arts, but had never felt as strongly as she did in that session.
Diane finished her undergraduate work at Wittenberg University, and interned at Bethesda Hospital in Zanesville and Upham Hall at OSU in attaining her registration in art therapy. She worked as a child life specialist at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, before being hired at Upham Hall as the art therapist. While at Upham she interned and was achieving her registration in Poetry Therapy and pursued a masters degree in art education at Ohio State University while teaching undergrad courses in art therapy.
Diane worked as an art therapist for 30 years, with the Hospice Programs at Grady Memorial Hospital and Mount Carmel Evergreen helping children and their families use art as a tool in expressing themselves and connecting.
“I try to make sure the kids are aware they’re not alone. I use art as a catalyst, helping them remember their loved ones, realizing that they are not alone, there are other children who have lost loved ones, and learning how to cope with loss.”
While working on her master’s, she took classes at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. It was there, as she was painting, making jewelry, and sculpting, that Diane discovered another reconnect to art, via a poster that called for volunteers to help with the opening of a new cultural arts center that would later be known as The Arts Castle.
“I saw the sign and it felt like coming home again,” Diane reminisces. “It was a gut reaction, I needed to follow up on it.”
She ran to volunteer, helping recreate the building into a palace for the arts. The building holds 9 different art studios, a ballroom, and a kitchen hosting ceramics, stained glass, jewelry, fiber arts, painting, drawing, dance, yoga, theatre, music, and culinary classes.
Diane started as one of the very first art instructors at the castle, and after spending 25 years working in art therapy in hospice became the executive director of the center in 2011. The Castle offers quarterly programming through the year along with exhibits and special events to the Delaware community.
“Being at the castle truly feels like being home, it’s a place that allows me to flourish,” Diane says. “I miss art therapy, so I’m trying to bring new programming to the castle inspired by that work. While it’s not exactly art therapy, it calls for the instructors to work with students to use their creativity in learning to express themselves, to de-stress and to connect with one another.” At the Castle, Diane has started arts programming designed for at risk youth, bereavement, and physically impaired students.
Since being director of the Castle over the last 14 years, Diane has become more cognizant of ensuring she has time to create art for herself. “Being at the Castle has given me an opportunity to recharge and find the fun in art again, playing around how I wanted to with various mediums including duct tape, stained glass, watercolor, alcohol ink, drawing, painting, photography and floral design.”
Her favorite kind of art? Her stick horses sculptures. She has loved horses and ridden her entire life. And when 4 topiary horses were given to the Castle and placed on the front lawn, while she couldn’t weld and didn’t want to make such life size pieces, she gathered sticks, ivy and grape vine to work with in creating her pieces. The design comes from the natural form of the wood, she simply cuts and shapes them into being.
“It’s almost like a gesture drawing that comes to life,” Diane explains. “I’ve had horses all my life, it's just a part of me. I naturally know their form and movement, their angles, sizes, proportions.”
The art therapist uses the stick horses as a form of therapy for herself.
“It’s never a struggle, it’s inherent, a conversation. To me, it’s a form of meditation, a conversation with God, that brings me home once again.”