Renee Sevenski
Contributing Writer

(Photos provided)

Picking up from where we last met, Darryl found the unlikely American $20 dollar bill in Rome and was able to stay there a little longer studying and learning painting and sculpture from the great European masters. But he knew he needed to continue forward so Darryl came back to the States.

In 1971 Darryl took his experience and moved to the big city and got a job as a land surveyor in 1974-1975 where he surveyed the layout of 204 columns of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan. He had the desire to return to his passion and, in 1976 Darryl started back full time as a sculpture student at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit. Two years later he entered graduate school at Eastern Michigan University where he received his Masters in Fine Arts.

Darryl was a graduate assistant at EMU and temporarily on the faculty. He was under the tutelage of Sculptor, John Nick Pappas, and this is where he learned the lost wax process of bronze casting.

Darryl began creating his sculpture, “Diane”, as a graduate assistant at EMU in 1982. It took Darryl three, 3-hour sessions a week for 8 weeks, and this is just an estimate because Darryl had mentioned that you lose the sense of time when creating. Art is timeless. Darryl wanted to portray a strong woman; the university calls her Diana, the goddess of the hunt. He also wanted to capture her extraordinary beauty. The piece won first Award of Excellence at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Association Competition judged by renowned realist artist Philip Pearstein

After “Diane” was completed Professor John Nick Pappas asked Darryl to donate it to the university. “Diane” is a 5-foot-3 inch, 150-pound bronze nude sculpture. Students became very fond of “Diane” and even started to drape her with a coat in the winter and added a scarf and hat. She could also be found with a jack-o-lantern on her shoulders as if she was participating in the Halloween activities. Darryl was asked how he felt about this and he recalled at first he thought it was desecration of his art and he had feelings of anger. But later he realized he was taking himself too seriously and he began to see how much fun the students were interacting with his work. “Diane” even became a Pokémon Go site.

On March 18, 1985 “Diane” was reported stolen from its concrete pedestal. The statue was valued at more than $5000. On April 4th a typewritten letter slipped under the door of the EMU campus newspaper. The letter held demands that if the basketball coach was not fired, they would turn Diana into 200 ash trays. The letter was even signed “Lot’s of Love, Diana”

On May 19, 1986, the DPS received a phone call from an anonymous female looking for a reward for the return of the statue. The caller said “Diane” was in the apartment of an EMU student’s parent in Milford, MI, which is about 45 minutes north of the university.

With Diana returning to the university, it was displayed in the McKenny Union Intermediate Gallery as part of an art exhibit before being returned to its original foundation outside Ford Hall and welded in place to prevent further “disappearances.” Unfortunately, “Diane” was stolen again in early November 1994. and recovered again a few weeks later when she was located behind a garage having been badly damaged from being ripped from its base and covered in red paint. This recovery was far different than before, and “Diane” then sat in the basement of Ford Hall awaiting money to be refurbished before being returned to display in the fall of 1998.

The piece was repaired by Professor Pappas and students in Darryl’s absence. He learned of its reinstatement by a photo on the front page of the Detroit News.

This has been the third part of Darryl’s fascinating journey which took us to EMU. And remember it all started right here in Eaton County. Stay tuned for more!