ARTIST STATEMENT
My current paintings have come out of experiments that are founded from working with forms and substances. “I’m intrigued by how materials transform because of saturation, in chemical combinations, with heat and pressure.” Some begin with plant dyes and metal mordants, others with bronze and steel filings and traditional patina methods. Color ranging from rust, blacks and golds to greens and blues emerge. Spontaneous forms lead me to respond with bits of nature, glass microspheres, pigments, paper and paint to bring out the emotional kind of place found within each work.
Thread is also an essential drawing tool I use to create rhythmic zigzags, circuitous curves and spirals of metallic and variegated lines. These are adhered or sewn into the paper. I continue working like a textile artist, creating on both sides of a page, sometimes washing, bleaching and ironing. Securing to a panel enhances what was once fluid and pliable and allows it to become a painting. “My techniques and the resulting paintings reflect and cultivate patience, inner calm and an optimistic vision.”
The addition of dyes and paint glazes, glass microspheres, beads, twigs, eggshells, and stuff that’s off the ground or the studio floor creates a density of texture. This begins the process of seeing into and finding a relationship to the kind of spaces and places that are resting within each image.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lisa studied at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and later graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. She completed a Masters in Art Therapy and worked in foster care using art as a therapeutic tool. In her work as a therapist and teacher, Lisa had a first hand view of how art processes aid in transforming trauma and grief, offering calm and joy. After retiring, Lisa returned to focus on the immediacy of painting and collage as a principal vehicle for her art making.
Lisa has shown nationally and internationally in invitational and juried shows. She has traveled to Latvia for an artists exchange and extensively in India whose culture and vibrancy inform her work as well as a holistic cosmic view. Besides her numerous one person shows, Lisa has participated in residencies at the Prairie Center of the Arts and Lakeside Studios in the Midwest.
Lisa lives in Peoria Heights, IL with her husband, poet Burt Raabe and a dancing feline, Zorba.
© Lisa Nelson Raabe