We last talked to you about your work in depth in 2019. How has it changed over the last several years?     

 

Due to the pandemic, my work was in a holding pattern until we could start traveling again. Photographers like me need to be out in the world to make their art. So in 2022 and 2023, traveling again was a kind of rebirth of making the type of art I like to make, which requires me to roam foreign places and spaces looking for intriguing subjects. Needless to say, getting out there again was liberating. 

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It’s been an interesting year and a half. How has your work been impacted by the Coronavirus?

On the plus side of a catastrophic and tragic situation, I have been afforded more time for studio work.

I think the themes in my paintings have remained the same and the work has not been affected as far as subject matter is concerned.

However, I did see some uneasiness reflected in some pieces; too much detail and some colors seldom used. These are interesting and challenging factors but overall I’d say my work remains my haven, the peaceful and absorbing place I long to get lost in.

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Can you tell us what inspired you to begin painting still lives?

I have done a lot of still life painting over the years. In fact, I stuck to that genre exclusively the first few years of my painting career, before branching out to other subject matter. For the most part those paintings were very traditional in nature. While I am still very much a representational painter, the growing popularity of contemporary art has inspired me to experiment with a more contemporary approach. Still life painting has provided the perfect vehicle for that.

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It’s been an interesting past six months. How has your work been affected by the coronavirus?

During this time of social distancing, my morning walks to the lakefront and connection to nature became even more important. The moment that vast water comes into view an immediate sense of calm settles in. This is what I was always trying to achieve with my work so it was just an affirmation to keep working on passing this sense of serenity onto others. Going to the studio and just working with the familiar for now was very cathartic during a time when everything else was changing.

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It’s been an interesting past five months. How has your work been affected by coronavirus?

The biggest change is not having my friend and fellow artist, Nancy Delman, to paint with me. Before Covid we painted together once a week and, although we have very different styles of painting, (she’s mostly figurative and I’m abstract) the basics of any artwork are always the same: color, value, space, form, shape and line. Needless to say, it’s been very solitary for months, and I miss her creative company and critique.

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Much of your work in this exhibit is inspired by nature in this exhibit, a departure from much of your past work. What inspired this change regarding your subject matter?

I noticed that i had a collection of photos that were meaningful to me in other ways than the portraits and architecture subject matter. These were photos of leaves, trees, butterflies, and landscapes - natural subject matter with different shapes, colors, and compositions. Especially in recent months being forced under lockdown, when I stopped rushing and doing, I started to look more closely and take time with these new ideas.

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Your work seems to be becoming more and more abstract. Can you talk about how your work has progressed over time?

I love being able to push myself as an artist. Having studied the myriad patterns in nature, I decided to see how I can expand on the idea of recreating the leaf or flower and use them as a jumping off place for my abstract art. By working spontaneously, I share the element of surprise that I feel with the person that stands before my art. My abstracts give people the chance to get completely lost in my process.

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

When I was quite young—6 or 7--I had a great aunt who was a painter. I remember visiting her studio and she showed me how to look closely and study the symmetry of a butterfly and of the seeds of a sunflower and she explained that artists look beyond the obvious to see things that others might miss. I admired her and tried to follow this advice.

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

I always drew. From the time I could hold a crayon, I used whatever surface was available. Frequently the walls, which did not please my parents.

I studied Fine Art at university and went on to get a Masters, I simply never thought of doing anything else.

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

My grandfather and mother were both artists, so It is something that just was around me and I enjoyed.   MY mother always encouraged me to observe my surroundings.  One of my favorite early memories of “art” was a color illustration on the cover of a book of poetry that belonged to my not so artistic grandmother.  It was always on the shelf growing up and I would just stare at this illustration—it held so much mystery for me.  I still have the book.  I like having a little mystery in my work.

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Last May, we had a wonderful conversation with our Featured Artist, Allison Svoboda. This coming month, Allison will be displaying her newest works, once again as our Featured Artist. Allison’s highly colorful and expressive paintings are based on her observations of nature. We spoke with Allison again this year regarding her new exhibit, expanding on her comments from last year. Check it out below!

The work in your upcoming exhibit is very different from your previous work. What inspired you to pursue sumi-e?

I have started working with color combinations in my ‘paper quilt’ series inspired by the restored native parries in Chicago.  In 2015, I received a Hemera contemplative fellowship to study Zen Buddhism in Japan.  While there, I learned calligraphy and traditional arts of Japan including ink painting, shibori and orizomegami.

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Last June, we had a wonderful conversation with our Featured Artist, Angela Saxon. This coming month, Angela will be displaying her newest works, once again as our Featured Artist. Angela’s highly colorful and expressive paintings are based on her observations of nature. We spoke with Angela again this year regarding her new exhibit, expanding on her comments from last year. Check it out below!

Your current exhibit focuses on water, namely creeks and waterfalls. What inspired you to pursue this subject, particularly given that your previous work focused much more heavily on beaches and shoreline paintings? Were these paintings inspired by trips that you took?

Over years I have made many paintings of a small creek that flows into Good Harbor Bay on Lake Michigan. It's clear and sandy and beautiful though contains nothing that you'd call a waterfall. The waterfalls entered my scene as a result of a trip last fall to the southern Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. I spent a week hiking and painting along a lively creek there. Those paintings were the spark for this new series.

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Last March, we had a wonderful conversation with our Featured Artist, Amie Campbell. This coming month, Amie will be displaying her newest works, once again as our Featured Artist. Amie’s highly colorful and patterned abstract paintings are based on her observations of nature. To reacquaint our readers with Amie, here is our conversation with her from last year.

We’d like to learn more about your beginnings. What are your earliest memories of art and how did you become an artist yourself?

 

“My grandmother was a painter and so I remember seeing her painting and I remember seeing her paintings. Most of that was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, so she would paint lake scenes and sunsets and beautiful things like that. I went to a liberal arts college, Kalamazoo College, and at first art wasn’t my emphasis. I got very interested in art history there and I had taken some art in high school but not a lot, and I just got interested in making art. I also did theater, and it all kind of worked together.”

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

I was mainly inspired by a painting I found by my mother after her passing. I had no idea that she had such a talent and decided to further my curiosity and interest in art I always had. I wondered what she would have been able to accomplish had she had the opportunity to study art. My earliest memories are how much easier it was as a child to express yourself through painting.

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

I was lucky enough that my mom opened my senses to both art and music at a young age—but the moment of discovery which sticks in my mind is a high school field trip to the Art Institute. I saw “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper and ... wow.

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

My earliest memories of art are times with my grandmother back when I was seven or eight years old. She decided to take some private painting lessons for fun and invited me to join her. That sparked a passion. My grandmother and I spent lots of time over the years under the tutalage of various local artists until I went off to college and she eventually passed away. If only she could know the lifelong gift she gave me!

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What are your earliest memories of art?   How did you become an artist yourself?

There was no specific starting point in my life for creating art…it was just always a part of it.   As a child my favorite activity was working in my coloring books and the “toy” I coveted the most was the big box of 64 Crayolas.  

 

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What are your earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

LG: One of my earliest art memories is of selling my homemade coloring books to kids in the neighborhood. My feet didn't even touch the ground while I sat behind my little snack table filled with hand drawn books. Kids would snatch them up and then I'd run back inside to make more.

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What are you earliest memories of art? How did you become an artist yourself?

As a young child I remember my oldest sister loving to paint and draw and seeing her work made me want to be an artist, too.  I was always fascinated by the human figure and continued to draw and paint from books, magazines and from life.

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