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The Post-Standard/Stars, Syracuse, NY, January 23, 2005

Inspired by Nature "Lamentations' Exhibit at the Redhouse Explores Works of Three Artists"

Katherine Rushworth, Contributing Writer

…You won't have trouble connecting with Dietel's exquisitely crafted elemental shapes. The work is fluid and graceful, created by joining organic forms with meticulously constructed linear elements.

He says he uses many of the same techniques used in bridge and boat building to create his work, steaming and bending thin strips of wood over wooden forms. He then lavishly coats the thin strips of oak, maple, and/or cedar with pigmented epoxy, which oozes out between the seams or shards of wood.

This work is craft-oriented, combining an interest in natural material with craft a la the American sculptor Martin Puryear (b. 1941), but it is also a pure celebration of form.

One of the most dramatic works in the show is a large piece made of oak and maple, titled "Twister, 2004." It hangs from pipes suspended between the theater catwalks and the gallery, like an exotic flower bathed in a lime green patina of pigmented epoxy. It reads like a drawing in space. …

Katherine Rushworth, of Cazenovia, is a former director of the Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center (State University College at Fredonia) and the Central New York Institute for the Arts in Education.

Copyright, 2005, The Herald Company