Diane Ippel
Diane Ippel, B.S. in Education at Illinois State University, continues a 50-year performance career of vocal and instrumental music featuring guitar (start 1965), autoharp (start 1969) and hammered dulcimer (start 1982). She founded the Hammers and Noters Dulcimer Society of Illinois, Inc. in 1985, serving on the board continuously since its inception. She is the founder and ten time coordinator of the Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival. She was a founding committee member of the Morris Arts Council for 5 years, and established the Morris Old Time Dance, now in its 18th year. Diane has performed nine of Malcolm Dalglish’s accompaniments for choirs. She has produced four vocal and instrumental album length recordings and appears as guest artist on 13 others.
A current resident of Working Artists Ventura (WAV), a sustainable green community of residences designed for artists in Ventura, CA, she was twice elected Secretary of the WAV Artists Council newly formed in 2014. In her second year teaching as an artist in the schools through the Childrens’ Celebration of the Arts program, she doubled the number of her presentations to 24 during the months of April and May. In 2015 she won Third Place in the “other instruments” category at the Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival, southern California’s favorite bluegrass, old-time and folk festival, held at Paramount Ranch National Park in Agoura Hills, CA.
