The Glass Bead Game, mixed media on canvas, 24 x 36. Diane Ponder was born in Virginia and raised in the country in Missouri. Her father was a researcher at McDonald's Douglas for the NASA and aeronautics team. She read a lot in trees climbed cliffs and went river rafting. She would also go to the Indianapolis 500 car races. She drew from a young age, eventually beginning painting in high school. She took figure drawing classes while in high school. She visited a morgue. Following da Vinci's lead she took anatomy in a nurses program, English and art programs at Harper College.Later she moved to Chicago and pursued a degree in art history and anthropology at the University of Chicago.She married there and later travelled and lived in several cities around the world showing art and having three children.Moving back to Chicago she helped establish a cooperative gallery as a resident artist in Oak park Illinois. She then started living room gallery. Since then she has also taken a certificate through the University of Chicago and the Hyde Park art center through the center program. she has also completed the bridge program at the Hyde park art center. She currently has a studio in the Cornelia Arts Building Chicago which has open houses throughout the year. She also frequently shows in New York, London and art fairs and galleries around the world.