3D florals for spring! CBC Arts logo gets a swampy digital makeover

Every month, we feature a new take on the CBC Arts logo created by a Canadian artist. Check out our previous logos!

Over the years, Diana Lynn VanderMeulen has let CBC Arts take a peek inside her creative mind. She's unpacked the ideas that have inspired murals and experiments in virtual reality, fantasy floral arrangements and pioneering face filters. And no matter what medium she's working in, the Toronto-based artist has steadily built a world we could easily get lost in. 

As this month's logo artist, VanderMeulen's offered us a glimpse of a digital landscape bursting with retro-futuristic daisies that flourish under a swampy sky — a realm that glistens like gasoline on a rain puddle. "I used the CBC Arts logo as a window into my microcosm," VanderMeulen says, and as she goes on to explain, it's an environment that's constantly evolving, much like her art practice. She told us more when we reached out to her by email.

Name: Diana Lynn VanderMeulen

Age: 35

Homebase: Toronto 

For those unfamiliar with your work, how do you like to describe what you do as an artist?

Over the past decade, I have been exploring ways in which I can integrate new media technologies within my ongoing arts practice — specifically my use of painting, collage and sculptural mediums. Incorporating the gaming engine Unity has allowed me to pull mixed media into 360 space, where I can challenge scale and the bounds of my human body within physical terrain. This also allows me to use my digital body in ways that are impossible to my physical self, peering beneath the layers of terrain to find new perspectives. 

I am drawn to creating otherworldly scenes that have a focus on colour and texture, with slowly shifting environmental aspects like water, grasses and light. Ultimately, I see this as a tool of exploring metaphysical connections between landscape and the human spirit. 

Let's talk about your logo design! What inspired the concept? 

The cosmos, shifts in perspective, algae blooms, micro and macro, optical illusions, literature, daydreaming, problem solving, collections and obsessive arranging. 

What can you tell me about this environment you've created? Where is it? What happens there?

This kind of gaseous composition is something I use to signify the birth of a universe. Vibrant Day-Glo plants and forms shimmer with energy as they move into a new formation. This feels like a space of unknown possibility. 

What's the project you're most proud of?

I am quite enthusiastic about my multi-sensory XR project A Boundless and Radiant Aura, which has been in development since 2022. Through an artist creation residency at the Society for Arts and Technology (Montreal) I was able to adapt this work into an immersive 360-degree audio-visual performance entitled I want to leave this Earth behind alongside sonic collaborator Stefana Fratila. This installation format is something I have dreamed of for over a decade. I am definitely proud of the hard work that went into actualizing this piece.

Are there any arts events on your radar this March? What are you excited to check out?

Monday Night public seminars organized by the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto and DJ sets by multi-instrumentalist Space Tak (Takuya Nakamura) and Ciel on March 9.

What's new in your world? What are you working on at the moment?

I am delving into open material research for a circular practice. This is focused on creative re-use, biomaterials, physical computing, DIY fabrication, extended reality and media devices. I am interested in how ideas change and grow as they are pulled through different mediums, and hope this will lead me to create sculptural electronic elements that I can incorporate into the presentation of my digital work.

What's your favourite place to see art?

I don't know if I have a single favorite place to see art, but I will definitely shout-out my favorite IRL Toronto place, Toutoune Gallery. I also love to see and read about art and artists in print: books, magazines, DIY publications, etc. 

Who's the last artist you discovered online?

I really love the work of OT - Xintong Qin who I discovered through Toutoune Gallery and delved further into online. 

What work of art do you wish you owned?

I dream of owning a photograph by Nan Goldin of Cookie Mueller and Vittorio Scarpati on their wedding day.

Where can we see more from you?
I have work on public display with Manufacturing Entertainment in Winnipeg and Toutoune Gallery in Toronto. I also have a show with Sky Fine Foods digital gallery and I have a website and Insta (@dianalynnvdm).