The Questionnaire - Lisa Pressman

The Questionnaire is meant to be a lighter version of a bio, a little more revealing in some respects and personal without all the facts bogging it down. I supply the questions and the respondents supply the answers. Either one or both of us supply the images.

             L i s a  P r e s s m a n             

What is your favorite color?

Depends but usually a lime green 

"Underneath," encaustic, 14"x11"

What is your favorite word?

Yes 

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Art, laughter and kindness

Lisa after her talk at the 2010 encaustic conference

What turns you off?

Meanness

What profession other than artist would you most like to be?

An actor 

What is your favorite book or movie?

Godfather 1 and 2, High Fidelity 

Who is your favorite musician, musical group or style of music?

Folk music (old and new) 

What do you most value in your friends?

Acceptance, honesty and humor



Name three artists whose work has influenced your own or whose work you most relate to.

Eva Hesse, Matisse, Jackson Pollock 

Eva Hesse, Rope Piece

Henri Matisse, "Interieur Rouge," 1947

Jackson Pollock

Name an artist whose work you admire but which may be unlike yours. 

Michal Rovner, Agnes Martin, Jasper Johns 

Michael Rovner, see Pace Gallery link

Agnes Martin work  (video interview with Agnes Martin)

Jasper Johns, "Target", 1958

What is your idea of earthly happiness?

Great wine, great friends, great food and love (not necessarily in that order) 

Note: Lisa posted alternate answers to these questions on her own blog. So take a look.


Work by Lisa Pressman

"The Rooms of Anais Nin," encaustic, 38" x 24"

"Following," encaustic and oil, 24" x 24", 2010

"Whirlwind," encaustic and oil, 24" x 24", 2009

"Red Rectangle 15," 12" x 12", ink and wax on paper, 2010

"Red Rectangle 16." 12" x 12", ink and wax on paper, 2010

Untitled, oil on canvas on board, 34" x 34", 2010

Untitled, oil on board, 36" x 40", 2010

Still Kickin'

Possibly you think I've gone to the great beyond or at least that I'm on vacation. In truth, I'm just finding my way back to the real world after the encaustic conference and the huge amount of creative input that stirred my recalcitrant brain. And I've been tired. Maybe all that thinkin' taxed my limited energy.


This week I've been in the studio working. As I mentioned before I went to the conference, my intention is to make some new work that combines encaustic with a kind of tribal, fetishistic work that I made in the 1990s. It's coming along pretty well. I won't show any of it yet because I'm only on my second piece and want to see how things develop as the series goes along.


Here are some of the inspirational pieces I've been looking at:

These are two Tatanua masks from New Ireland, near New Guinea in the South Pacific.

I had never seen masks like this before and really love them - not for the faces, but for the fabulous headdresses. These masks are made for dancing and worn mostly by men. A crest divides the headdress in two and each side is different so that when a line of dancers turns, they display an entirely different look. I find the idea of that striking.

The work I'm making does not look like this, but these masks inspired me to the possibilities and potentialities of various materials.

I've also realized recently how linked my work is to textiles and how inspired I am by them. I knew already that I loved the work of the fabulous el Anatsui, and I found one of his works online that was new to me and that looked less metallic.

(...much time expired...)

Well, I went looking for the image and couldn't find it, read some exhibition descriptions, answered a couple of emails and played around with a fun site that Lisa Pressman just sent me. (Once you get there, press any letter to start and then keep clicking to get a different color. Pressure on the mouse makes the lines thicker or thinner, etc.)

So there you have it, a distracted blog entry.

I'm going to put us all out of our misery and go watch the second playing of Rachel Maddow to see what she has to say about all those tomcat Republicans that just got knocked off the presidential shortlist for 2012. I guess Sarah Palin will outlast them all.

Just a Snippet

Friendship is the greatest part of the encaustic conference for me. I love seeing and chatting with people - sometimes just for seconds to say hello and at others for extended hangout sessions during dinner or other opportunities to get together. This year was particularly rich for me in time spent getting to know people a bit through their work and their life concerns.

Two new friends, Debra Ramsay and Cora Jane Glasser, staged a surprising stealth show called Material Matters in their hotel suite, sort of a mini art fair. This was a major success where they each showed a significant body of work (which looked great on its own and in combination) and where they received visitors Saturday, Sunday and Monday evening during the conference and post conference. These very successful evening sessions turned intothe 311 Salon where visitors looked, nibbled, chatted, laughed and even engaged in serious discussions. Lisa Pressman has posted on her blog a series of comments about titling paintings from several of us involved in the discussion at the salon and subsequently online.

One night at 311 Salon hosted by Debra and Cora with l to r: Eileen Goldenberg, Kimberly Kent, Linda Womack, Cora Glasser, moi, Bill Womack. I think there's someone else in there, but I can't see/don't remember who.

Linda Womack took a little video at the salon and posted it on her blog. She is a very conscientious blogger, unlike some of us, and has included photos from many of the shows and workshops at the conference.

I, on the other hand, was busy viewing and photographing a giant bee that landed on my shoe and that someone thought was an ornament. We all have our priorities!