Dianne Ballon

About the Artist

Dianne Ballon is a sound artist from Portland, Maine. She received a Maine Artist Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission. Her sound works have aired on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.

Her 2024 exhibition, Lost and Found: Sounds of the Maine Coast by Dianne Ballon at the Maine Maritime Museum, featured her field recordings of working harbors, boatyards, and the sounding navigational buoys of Casco Bay. From the museum's collection, she recorded the historical, circa 1900— bells, whistles and early foghorns.

Her coastal sound work was featured in Yankee and Down East magazines. And, on the podcasts: Radio Maine, The Natural Curiosity Project and Light Hearted: the Official Podcast of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.

Her field recording, Boats Creaking at a Dock in Iceland, was awarded at an international radio art competition. She produced audio for the national exhibition: The Marines and Tet: The Battle That Changed the Vietnam War. At Shenandoah National Park, she was awarded an Artist-in-Residency. 

For over ten years, she was a member of the teaching and production staff at the National Audio Theatre Festivals, where she taught classes and produced radio theatre. She produced audio for Tactile Images, a company that creates fine art for museums that is accessible to the blind, through touch and sound.

At the University of Maine at Augusta, she taught audio production and radio theatre. She has taught many workshops and classes to artists, producers and podcasters. This includes the Public Radio Exchange Podcast Garage, Harvard Music Department and Harvard Sound Education conference. Currently, she teaches audio production through the SALT Institute for Documentary Studies at Maine College of Art & Design.

She is available for all aspects of audio production: recording, editing, mixing, sound design, podcast production and producing radio theater, and for teaching. To learn more, please visit her website:

https://www.dianneballonsound.com