It’s so clearly spring here today in the Bay Area, and being Good Friday we know that many of you are preparing your Seder dinners for Passover, dinner and egg hunts for Easter and all the new growth and re-birth that springtime brings. Considering all the blooms in my neighborhood and the new seedlings in my garden, I want to share this interview that Pryor Fine Art did with Bryant Street Gallery (our sister gallery in Palo Alto) artist Elise Morris— her work exudes new life and the dewiness of wet-earth springtime. What significance does springtime have for you?
Happy Spring!
Under The Surface:
Elise Morris, oil on canvas, 48x52 inches, 2012
Available
“PFA: Tell us about your background. Where did you grow up? Your family?
I grew up in Southern California with my parents and younger brother. We had a big backyard and my brother and I had a very funky tree house. We made a museum for rocks and mixed up ‘chemistry’ concoctions. Looking back we were very creative kids.
PFA: How would you say your background influenced your career? And at what age did you become curious about art?
I have always been artistic, especially as a young child. My mom was a wonderful seamstress and made all kinds of crafts. Making things with my hands was second nature. I started taking art classes outside of school when I was seven. Throughout school I had amazing art teachers who encouraged me every step of the way.
In college, I had to major in art in order to take art classes, so I ended up doing a double major with Environmental Studies. I had become very focused on environmental issues and felt that was going to be my career. My art major became more and more important to me, and I really grew artistically.
PFA: What inspires you, and how do you stay inspired? How has this shaped your artistic philosophy?
I am deeply inspired by color. Achieving certain color shades or intensities can really drive a painting. Currently I seem to be drawn to more subtle color shifts and reflections of light. I am also interested in the shapes found in nature, how they can be so unexpected. There is a lot of detail that is overlooked, and my goal is to really see my surroundings. Painting is a way of understanding something I have seen.
PFA: What artist(s) has (have) had the biggest influence on your work?
I have a vivid memory seeing work by Terry Winters at the Temporary Contempory in Los Angeles. I was a teenager at the time, and I remember being utterly disturbed and frightened by his large abstract paintings. The work was raw and immediate, and not at all about beauty. At the same time I was in love with paintings by Bonnard, and his gorgeous way with color and light. On another museum visit, I was blown away by the power of the sculptures by Martin Puryear. His oversized, elegant forms seemed to live and breathe. Seeing work in person has always been important, and I had been blessed as a young person to have that opportunity.
Last year I saw Squeak Carnwath give an artist’s talk at the Oakland Museum. Her studio is actually just several blocks from mine. She talks about being present in her work – even though my work is really different, I am very influenced by her approach. Similarly, I love reading Agnes Martin’s writings about her process.
PFA: What is your artistic philosophy?
My work is really about following intuition. I am very interested in process. I don’t sketch or otherwise prepare for a painting. I start with a pencil line drawing and build the surface in many, many layers.
PFA: What do you need around you while you are working in the studio?
Elise Morris, oil on canvas, 36x33 inches, 2012
Available
I love my studio to be completely quiet, just the hum of the fan and once in a while the train in the distance. I find music distracting – I need to hear my own voice. I also need pads of paper, since I write myself lots of to do-lists as I paint. And right now in winter, large mugs of green tea and my radiator heater!
PFA: What do you most enjoy doing while you are not painting?
My focus right now is on my son. On the weekends we take long outings at parks, doing errands, or going to the zoo. He’s three so everything is fun! I bring along my camera and loads of snacks and we spend the whole morning together. Then we head back for naptime. I have just started taking him to museums and also on short hikes. He has a wonderful ability to see the smallest detail, which I am learning to do myself.
PFA: What is your favorite traveling experience?
One summer in college, I met my friend, Anne, in Oxford where she was studying abroad, and we traveled to Italy. We only took backpacks and bought a guidebook on the way. I had a list written by an art professor of must see paintings, mostly in small town churches.It was an amazing way to see the country.
More recently I spent two weeks in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana with my family. We stayed in a house right on a river. We saw so much wildlife, including a moose and her calf. We explored the whole area, and my son became quite the little hiker.
PFA: If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
A zookeeper! I love to be around animals, they are so instinctual. As a teenager I worked for a woman who cared for exotic animals who were being rehabilitated. I experienced some pretty unbelievable things, between getting kicked by an ostrich and raising a baby raccoon. That experience had a profound impact on me and I will forever be an animal lover. For the time being, my son and I frequent the zoo and marvel at all the creatures together.”
Reposted from Pryor Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia – January 2012.
Interested in more artists whose work stems from investigating light and color with layers? Check out work by our current featured artist at K Imperial— Gina Borg.
