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DNK Photography LLC
By Michele Malinchak
Artist Dyan Law still recalls the day, at age five, when her mother brought home a fresh box of crayons to their apartment in Jackson Heights, NY. The walls were newly painted white, creating a temptation she couldn’t resist. “I thought, what an amazing canvas! I took my crayons and wrote all over those walls and said, Mommy, you have to come see my pictures!” Her mother was horrified and apologized profusely to the superintendent. Dyan was ordered to scrub the walls clean with a bucket and a brush—no easy task given the waxy crayons. Undaunted, she still had the last word. Clutching the hot pink crayon she declared, “You wait and see. I’m gonna be an artist!”
Her prediction came true. Today, Dyan Law is an accomplished artist whose career has spanned teaching, illustration, product design and fine art. “They’ve all contributed to where I am now and the choices I make,” she said.
Throughout her professional life, one theme has remained constant: human connection and an appreciation of others. Through her art she hopes to capture the depth and beauty of the human spirit.
Although she began by painting landscapes, portraiture always called to her. One of her instructors, renowned artist Burton Silverman once told her, “A portrait is a landscape of the face.” Over the years, she has studied under a long list of distinguished artists including Richard Schmid, Frederick Franck, Everett Raymond Kinstler and Daniel E. Greene.
While studying figure drawing with Frederick Franck, author of “The Zen of Seeing,” she got a surprising nod from him that shaped her future. “He was mean to all the students. I thought he probably hated all of us, but he came up to me after the session and whispered, “You’re going to be a portrait artist someday.”
“I remember answering, from your mouth to God’s ears. And I was so elated because that gave me encouragement to keep going with portraits.”
Still, she didn’t feel ready to take on commissioned work until she moved to Bucks County, PA 24 years ago from Westchester County, NY. As her confidence grew, she transitioned from product design to full-time painting and drawing.
While landscapes may be more popular in this area, she remains committed to portraiture. “People often come up to me and ask, why would you want to hang a portrait of somebody you don’t know?” she said. Her answer is always, “Okay, what would you say to Vermeer?”
She draws inspiration from the old masters, particularly Rembrandt, and American artists John Singer Sargent and Richard Schmid.
Dyan considers herself a contemporary classical artist. “I don’t do photo realism,” she said. Working primarily in oil on linen panels, her portraits can take weeks or even months to complete. She also works in pastel, watercolor and acrylics. Although she prefers painting from life, most of her work is completed using photographs. “People don’t have the time to sit for poses,” she said. Her portraits of children are entirely done from photos.
Her brushwork varies depending on the subject and the mood she wants to depict. In “Anthony and his Grandmother,” for example, the brush strokes are soft and nearly invisible, conveying warmth and tenderness. The young boy and his grandmother, whom he refers to as “Omie,” are dressed in traditional Indian garments after having attended a festive Indian wedding.
Currently her primary focus is portraiture of dementia patients, a deeply personal mission that began with her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease. In October 2025 she started developing the “I Feel Seen Thru Art Initiative, ” a project dedicated to honoring dementia patients and their caregivers.
“The ultimate goal for my painting initiative is to offer a free portrait to the caregiver of their loved one with dementia and ultimately organize an exhibition of the completed paintings to raise dementia awareness.”
Prints of the portraits would also be made available to families and friends, with proceeds helping to offset production costs.
Dyan said subjects often come to her through word of mouth. Physicians, caregivers and community members have already begun reaching out with requests. “I don’t think I’ll have any problem finding subjects to paint,” she said. “The percentages of patients with dementia are getting greater and greater every year.”
To deepen her knowledge, Dyan attends meetings of Dementia Friendly Doylestown and is active with the Dementia Society of America. She has also connected with authors of an upcoming book on dementia entitled, “Led by Love, Guided by Faith,” by Sharon Spadaccini and Meri Luarasi Gaumond.
Among the portraits completed for the initiative is “Paul,” a former advertising director and drummer whom Dyan met through a friend. “He always liked to wear his white shirt,” she said. She intentionally used stronger, more vigorous brushwork to convey his personality and vitality.
Another significant work is her portrait of jazz pianist Junior Mance whom she knew through her father. She presented the painting to him on his 90th birthday during the production of the documentary, “Sunset and the Mockingbird.” Although Mance was then living with advanced dementia, he reacted emotionally when he saw the portrait.
“He looked at me with, like, ‘That’s me,’” she said. “And he remembered my name, which was amazing to me, you know?”
Dyan grew up with a brother, Ron, in a highly creative household in East Meadow, NY. Their father was a jazz musician and music publisher who played sax clarinet and flute, while their mother was a singer who filled the house with operatic arias each morning.
At age 13, Dyan began working for her father’s publishing business, eventually designing sheet music covers in the company’s art department. That same year, she completed her first commissioned painting—a portrait of a teacher’s home. By 18, she had her first exhibition in a New York City gallery.
Though she excelled at art, her father initially discouraged her from pursuing a career in it. At home, academics came first, but after finishing homework, Dyan would secretly sketch underneath the covers with a flashlight. “I went to school the next day exhausted from staying up late,” she said. Her parents were called in by the art teacher who was concerned about Dyan being tired all the time. “She told my parents that I was very serious and had some talent.” When Dyan aced the SAT in art, she gained her father’s full support.
Dyan studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY before earning both associate and bachelor of fine arts degrees from University of Bridgeport, CT. She also attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, studied at the Art Students League in NYC and later received a scholarship to the Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia, PA.
Following graduation, she taught art in New York City schools, including the Bronx and Spanish Harlem. For more than 20 years, she taught art to students of all ages. Her philanthropic bent often influenced her work. As art program director at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in NYC, she taught art to children undergoing cancer treatment. In Spanish Harlem she volunteered to teach English to underprivileged students during her lunch breaks.
“I guess that’s been my calling in a way,” she said, “wherever I see a need to try to fill.”
Dyan began her professional art career as a designer for Lillian Vernon, the mail order catalog launched in 1956. She designed products ranging from scarves and ornaments to children’s books and home décor. She recalled her father being proud of her when he saw people wearing her designs on scarves.
In the 1980’s, she founded Dyan Law Design, Inc. a high-end invitation company whose work earned a prestigious award from American Greetings.
She later served as head of design for Michael Roger Press in Middlesex, NJ, working with notable entertainment clients including Steven Spielberg. One assignment involved creating promotional replicas of a photo album featured in Spielberg’s 1999 horror movie, “The Haunting.”
Among her many accomplishments outside the studio, Dyan also earned a black belt in karate and taught martial arts to both children and adults in Westchester County, NY in the late 1980’s.
Today, she and her husband Dennis, a retired environmental engineer, live in a circa- 1830 home in Pipersville, PA. She has two adult children, Noah, who operates several restaurants, and Loren, who practices law.
“Fortunately at this stage of my life I don’t have to paint to make a living,” Dyan said. Instead, her work is more guided by purpose, and though commissions are important, so is the mission to raise awareness for dementia.
That mission may expand into children’s literature. Dyan is considering writing or illustrating a book to help children better understand dementia and the emotional changes it brings to loved ones.
"How many children are afraid to go into nursing homes to see grandma and grandpa in a different light?” she asked.
Dyan’s artwork is exhibited at Skyview Fine Art Studio Gallery in Pipersville and online at www.dyanlaw.com.
Michele Malinchak is a freelance writer who has a degree in art and enjoys oil painting.