The secret is in the doing. A creative practice is built upon a discipline of relentlessly taking action with delayed gratification.
Trained as a classical pianist as a child, John Diehl said music has always played a role in his life. However, he uncovered a new talent while studying as an undergraduate at what was then Bridgewater State College.
“While taking a Drawing 1 class, I discovered that I could draw,” Diehl said. “Not only did I enjoy drawing, but my professor encouraged me to pursue art.”
Diehl heeded the advice, and for the last two decades has carved out a career in the field. Today he is known for his large-scale geometric paintings that are precision-driven, exploring the tension between human craftsmanship and structured form.
His career unofficially started at Bridgewater State, where, as a student, he began selling his classwork and homework assignments – his earliest works of art – on the side.
Upon graduating in 2005, he sold his oil paintings online during the Online Art Revolution, a period, Diehl said, when people were still hesitant to purchase art and home furnishings on the internet.
Undeterred, in 2010 he opened and operated an art gallery in Bridgewater center.
“This became a meaningful chapter early in my career,” he said. “It offered a physical space for connection and showcasing new work.”
One of the highlights for Diehl was exhibiting and selling the works of Bridgewater Professor Stephen Smalley.
A few years into owning the gallery, and painting thousands of paintings, Diehl found himself burned out. He shifted gears and launched The Beard Baron, a beard and mustache care company.
Sporting his own impressive moustache and beard, Diehl developed and designed a product line of scented products.
“I became one of the founding fathers of the modern beard movement and was awarded the Shopify Silver Milestone after fulling over 100,000 orders to 130 countries,” Diehl said.
Still, art was part of his consciousness, and during COVID he and his wife purchased a home that included a large studio space.
“This finally gave me the opportunity to pursue a longtime career goal: painting at scale,” Diehl said.
He recently pioneered the Arcwright Project, a long-term artistic and engineering endeavor focused on creating orbits of light. The orbs are created by machines Diehl built, and he suspends them over his geometric freehand paintings.
“It’s a fusion of painting, geometry, light engineering, and luminous architecture,” he said.
The inspiration for the project came when Diehl was studying abroad in Florence, Italy, through Bridgewater State.
“That experience profoundly shaped how I think about art, architecture, devotion, and scale. It continues to echo through my practice to this day,” he said.
As he continues to create and bring new pieces of art to life, he encourages student-artists to keep moving, even when feeling stuck.
“The secret is in the doing. A creative practice is built upon a discipline of relentlessly taking action with delayed gratification,” he said. “Being able to execute repeatedly and learning how to recover and rest from it, is key. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
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