Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Paul Bowen answers

Paul Bowen was kind enough to answer some of my questions about creative ancestry and artist connections.  I have never met him but have always appreciated his work when I have visited Provincetown. Thanks, Paul!





Lisa, so glad you ask about creative ancestry !
It is something that I'm conscious and grateful for.

I grew up in Wales in the 1950s Welsh was my Dad's first language, but in those days uniformity was encouraged so my brother and I never became fluent. In Wales, conscious visual culture is relatively recent, whereas music and literature have always been central to the culture.
Part of our family worked in the slate quarries and I was thrilled to find out recently that there was ships carpenter among them. My taid (grandather) worked in a hardware store and had a sideline engraving coffin plates ! I have his tools in my workshop. My Dad was an architect and although he was well known for his Bauhaus-ish buildings, his real love was the old architecture, castles, churches, burial chambers and standing stones of the area we lived in. Much of our family time was spent exploring there and I am forever grateful for my parents love of the landscape. In WW II my Dad served in The Royal Engineers, building bridges, and in bomb disposal..I had had a couple of the bombs he defused, hanging on my bedroom wall when I as a kid.



Apse, 2016-17, Rust Stained Wood, 12.5 x13 x 2 inches

Latch, rust, 2017


Hiraethum, 1986, wood and chalk, 101 in x 81 in x 14 in, private collection



Kedge, wood, 1990, 168 x 108 x 18 in




I'm working on a list of artist I connect with, some from long ago, others more recent, and some are peers. A proper list would be pages long !








I have a direct conection to some of these artists through the materials, process or imagery they use, the others listed are mostly painters and it is painting and drawing that I find myself looking at these days. The block-buster rather corporate feel of much current work interests me less and less and I find that I'm drawn to simple direct expression, and often to the work of amateurs, sincere, intimate and authentic.



Boat and Bridge

Bridge Boat



Bridge Map







Sketchbook drawing



Armada, 2016, wood and bronze, 9 x 8 x 4 in.



Beacon, 2016, wood and bronze, 9 x 5 x 3 




Paul's Studio



What books are you reading these days?








Upcoming exhibitions:
I'll be showing a major work built from oars in 'Preserving The Very Nature of Cape Cod' at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis Ma, March 15 - May 20.

And currently working on a series of commissioned table top sculptures for 'On Edge ' at The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield By. May 20 - January 20, 2018

And will have new work at Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown this summer and at Big Town Gallery , Rochester, Vermont.



Saturday, December 23, 2017

New Beginnings




Studio wall 2017



I began this blog in 2009 with "some of this and that about art " and also featured artists working their studios. I have always been interested in artists' inspirations, story, personal history,point of view and studio life.

What inspires you? What makes the hair on your neck go up? What do you take pictures of? What is your personal history? What artist's work turns you on and why? What do you see outside your window in the studio? What's on your bookshelf? What do you listen to? Thoughts in the studio?

Those are the kind of questions I will be asking myself and others again.
Stayed tuned but meanwhile here are some interesting posts from the past:

Mine from 2009
Steven Alexander,Paul Benke,Hannalore Baron,Rebecca Crowell,Diane Englander,Lorrie Fredette,Brenda Goodman,Matt Langley ,Lucy Mink,Diane McGregor,Tim McFarlane,Nancy Natale
Leslie Neuman,Sue Post,Fran Shalom,Titles,Inside/Outside,Etiquette of the Studio Visit


"Talking" 48 x 38 pigment sticks on panel 2016    R&F Handmade Paint Collection




Friday, March 17, 2017

Exhibitions

Snow day in Spring!
Hoping all is well where you live and you are enjoying art full days!
Lisa
Happy to be included in the first show at the Jen Tough Gallery, Vallejo, CA open until April 8th
Free Passage at Addington Gallery in Chicago through May
From Dan Addington:
I'm really excited to announce that Addington Gallery will be featuring noted abstract painter Lisa Pressman in our upcoming group exhibition "Free Passage: ).Lisa is a fantastic painter and a leading practitioner in the US of encaustic painting, although she often incorporates oil and other wax-based mediums into her work. These paintings are deep, layered, and visceral, yet somehow they always remain fresh, immediate, and vivid! Lisa is a true colorist, and when you see these pieces in person (as I hope you do, here, on March 3) you will be captivated by how she speaks the language of color, and how clearly you can hear her voice. These gem-like paintings (many are 12x12) are capable of taking you on long journeys (hence the title of the show "Free Passage"). I know this, because one hangs in my kitchen, and it helps wake me up every morning. - Opening March 3, 5-8pm at Addington Gallery, 704 N Wells St.
I have  decided to create a Facebook group that would be : updates on my exhibitions and workshops, a place to share art, information, ideas, thoughts  and discussions. A little more interactive than a blog and a Facebook page and no politics. Just Art!

So if you are interested: please ask to join MORE PAINT on FB. See you there.
Lisa
http://www.lisapressman.net
Please visit my website for new work and news.

 
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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Invitation to Join


It has been way to long since I have posted on this blog. Between being in the studio, teaching and all of the other social media,  the blog has gone to the side. I decided to create a Facebook group that would be : updates on my exhibitions and workshops, a place to share art, information, ideas, thoughts  and discussions. A little more interactive than the blog.

So if you are interested please ask to join MORE PAINT on FB. See you there,
Lisa
http://www.lisapressman.net
https://www.facebook.com/groups/422092238182683/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
PS Not giving up on the blog just yet though




Sunday, May 1, 2016

Time Changes, Life Changes, Work Changes

A Delicate Balance 30 x 30 encaustic
Yesterday I received a comment on Facebook after posting some work that said " I can't keep up with all the changes in your work" 

My response:  'Time Changes, Life Changes, Work changes"

It is true that my work takes twists and turns. There are shelves of paintings with which I  am  exploring:  structure, color, metaphoric shapes, inside /outside worlds, light, mark-making, scale plus plus.





Using a variety of mediums  inherently changes the outcome of my work also.




Floating 24 x 24 oil on panel 2016
At any given time there are several series going that I keep thinking will eventually end up being addressed in the mother of all paintings. These series are like chapters in a book that I will probably never finish writing.


Recent teaching has provided me with the opportunity to travel which effects the work in surprising ways. It is a matter of being visually open.



Taos Series 1 11 x 8 oil on paper 2016


Taos Series 2 11 x 8 oil on paper 2016


Taos Series 3 11 x 8 oil on paper 2016



Taos Series 4, 5" x 5" oil on panel 2016



Sometimes I wish I could be one of those artists that does the same consistant work over time. A  shape shift here, a corner there, a  slight color change and yet the constant of their work is ever-present. I admire that tenacity and vision.  That structure would seem to relieve the anxiety of the "not knowing" that I sometime experience in the studio.

 It is a momentary wish ! (I think these two pieces show that flip and flop!)


Stacked 30 x 30 oil on panel 2016
Moving Sideways 40 x40  oil on panel 2016

This is a time when I am happy to have had many years of "making" behind me to remind me that I need to continue on my own journey and "all will be well".

Small Gem Series 5" x 5" encaustic on panel



Small Gem Series 5" x 5" encaustic on panel

Small Gem Series 8" x 8" encaustic on panel




















Monday, November 16, 2015

Lisa Pressman: 'Passing Through' at Causey Contemporary by John Seed


Lisa Pressman: 'Passing Through' at Causey Contemporary by John Seed


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Passing Through 1, 2015, Oil on panel, 12"x12"

When a collector recently asked Lisa Pressman how much time she had spent making a recent painting she answered directly: "About thirty years." It's an answer that likely came across as a bit flip at first, but considering the depth of experience that goes into her work, Pressman's response was actually both forthright and graceful. To forge the searching, varied and surprising images that she makes, Pressman relies heavily on intuition: a faculty that has taken her many years to trust and talk about. "For many years I used to be embarrassed to talk about intuition," she reflects, "but as time goes on I realize it is my strength."

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Lisa Pressman

Pressman is process-oriented and each image represents a kind of gradual accretion of ideas and methods that wouldn't be possible without the broad foundation of caprices and ruminations that preceded it. Her work, which is abstract but still very much inspired by the process of seeing, has a sense of visual "rightness" that only intuition can validate. When she teaches, Pressman often tells her students to stare at something and then close their eyes as they draw it. Why? Because she feels that portraying the essence of things--filtered and re-constituted by the myriad subtleties of consciousness--is better than drawing from life.



John Seed Interviews Lisa Pressman


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Passing Through 2, 2015, Oil on panel, 12"x12"




Lisa, tell me about the theme of your show: "Passing Through."

"Passing Through" reflects both my own travels and the passing away of my mother in September of 2014, just before her 100th birthday. The last few days of her life she had visions of trains, boats and other symbols that referred to traveling. Ironically, In my own travels, I have been using the camera as a sketchbook and many of the photos are related to trains, boats, windows and reflections. So "Passing Through" is about both physical journeys as well as a metaphysical passage.

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A source photo for Lisa Pressman's "Passing Through" series




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Off Somewhere, 2015, Oil on panel, 12"x12"



Can you say a bit about how your mother Adele was important to your development as an artist? 

Both my parents played an important role in my development. My father owned a lumberyard when I was growing up so I have many memories of walking through the aisles of stuff: screws, nails, washers, etc. Watching the house paint being mixed and looking at all the colors of the paint chips was a thrill. The smell of wood and sawdust is very familiar. As for my mother, she was an actress, an artist and an antique dealer who fostered my interest in art by taking me to museums, supporting my decision to study art and always believing in me.



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Point of Departure, 2015, Oil on panel, 18"x18"



How does the world around you make its way into your abstract imagery?

One of my strongest memories as a child was when I would lay in bed and try to fall asleep. I would stare at the wall and create a grid and imagine images in each square of moving light and color. Abstraction speaks to me. These days I am always looking at patterns, textures, colors, shapes and lines in an abstracted way. Using the camera as a viewfinder has sharpened my vision as a painter. I don't look at or use the photos in the studio but just the act of stopping, noticing and capturing the image filters it way into my work.

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One of Lisa Pressman's source photos




Do you work on a single series at a time or do you juggle themes and ideas? 

I am always juggling themes, ideas and materials. I work on many pieces at a time and they are all in different stages of completion. After the Passing Through work leaves the studio, I will be continuing to work on a series of paintings that deal with structure, geometry and space. Some of the consistent themes in my work are transformation and decay, building history, interior and exterior spaces, windows and vessels, mapping and both the close up and the far away. I find that the imagery in my work appears and reappears over years.

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Shifting Time 2, Pigmented wax and mixed media on panel, 30" x 30"




Who are some living artists that you admire? 

Today's picks would be: Mark Bradford, Jay Kelly, Brenda Goodman, Louise Fishman, Amy Silman, William Kendridge, El Anatsui, Sqeak Carnwath Thomas Nozkowski, Jonathan Lasker, Brice Marden and Andy Goldsworthy. I have a feeling Frank Stella will be in on the list after I see the show at the Whitney.


Is there anything else you would like to say about your current show?

I am looking forward to seeing all this work outside of my studio. The surfaces of the paintings are rich with texture and subtle shifts of color, so to see them up on the wall, properly lit, will be revealing.

Lisa Pressman "Passing Through"
Causey Contemporary
29 Orchard Street, NYC
Opening is Friday, November 13th, 6-8
The show runs through 12/13/2015
View the exhibition catalog onlinehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/lisa-pressman-passing-thr_b_8506526.html