Bärbel Dieckmann, born 1961 in Bielefeld, studied sculpture at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences from 1981 to 1988 under Richard Heß, whose assistant she was from 1988 to 1991. From 1991 to 1994 she taught at the master school for craftsmen (stonemasons and stone sculptors department) in Kaiserslautern. Member of the Darmstadt Secession since 1994. Among other awards, she has been presented with the Gustav Weidanz Prize for Sculpture. She has lived as an artist and teacher in Berlin since 1994 and has created many works for the public, e.g. the official portrait of the Federal President Joachim Gauck.

The starting point and central theme of Bärbel Dieckmann’s artistic work is the human figure. Within this basic theme, her spectrum of content is broad: It ranges from direct portraits of specific people to numerous nameless standing, sitting, squatting or reclining figures to the depiction of figures and scenes from (Greek-antique) mythology.
The latter fascinate Dieckmann as embodiments of timeless, current psychological patterns, whereby she is particularly interested in the figure of the Minotaur, the monster combining human and bull features, who was imprisoned in the labyrinth of Knossos and finally killed by Theseus. In addition to many individual depictions of this creature – including even a Minotauria ! – Dieckmann dealt with the myth of Theseus, not least in the context of one of her main sculptural works, the portal to the myth of Theseus, created in 1989.