Artist Spotlight: Lisa Pressman
Lisa Pressman, Stacks, 15” x 12”, Pigment Stick® on paper, 2019
Lisa Pressman works and teaches in a variety of mediums, among them oil, encaustic, cold wax, and mixed-media collage. Her work is abstract, conceptually based, and process-driven. It features marks, forms, colors, and patterns that are evocative rather than descriptive.
A New Jersey native, Lisa received her Bachelor of Arts degree in fine art from Douglass College at Rutgers University in 1979 and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from Bard College in 1981. Her work is represented by Susan Eley Fine Arts in New York, Addington Gallery in Chicago, and Slate in Telluride, Colorado.
In addition to teaching at R&F, Lisa has served as faculty at the former Art Institute of NY, as well as a visiting professor at Pratt Institute and taught workshops in France, Mexico, and Italy.
Lisa Pressman, Thinking Patterns, 60” x 50”, clay, 1978
Can you tell us a little about yourself? How did you get your start as an artist?
I began thinking as an artist (though I didn’t realize it until later) when I went on a trip to Israel with my mother at the age of 12. The stark dualities of old and new, cultural and religious differences, the contrast in landscape and the relics, museums and religious sites stuck in my brain for a long time. The realization of the bigger world beyond my life in New Jersey was life changing.
At that time, I was writing in journals, experimenting with poetry, and I began doing ceramics. Working with clay was the game changer, much to the chagrin of my father who took me out to dinner before I started college and asked: “You sure you don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer?”
I was quite sure. On the other hand, my mother was my greatest supporter, as she herself had a creative side acting, painting, and selling antiques.
Lisa Pressman, Outside In (side view), 48” x 12” wood and unfired clay, 1979
When I went to college my identity as an artist began to take shape. The first thing that happened was my ceramics professor told me to make sculpture: apparently my pots were very wonky. The second influence was the Women’s Artists Series started by Joan Snyder at Douglass College, which was the women’s school at Rutgers University.
Untitled installation, unfired clay and wood, 1979
In 1975 there were no women professors and this program brought in all the feminist artists of the day to lecture for us. It made it seem possible to actually pursue a career as a female artist. When the department brought in the painter Joan Semmel as a female professor, I began painting in her class.
It really was the positive feedback of all those teachers that had a huge impact on my identity as an artist. Later in graduate school for sculpture I became enamored with paint and color and haven’t look back… until recently.
Lisa Pressman, Messages 22, 12” x 12”, smoke, thread, Letraset, and ink, 2021
What are you currently working on in the studio? How has your work evolved over the years?
My work develops in a spiral with constant themes that get revisited in different ways and materials. Dualities of inside and outside, imagined internal spaces and rooms, mark-making as time-keeping, color explorations and materiality. From clay to oil paint, encaustic, cold wax, and now other materials, the work is always shifting, yet maintaining those underlying concepts.
Right now in the studio I have been working on paper and board with mixed media such as ink, smoke, fire, Letraset, RF Pigment Sticks, stitching and more. These works are called Messages and refer to rituals, portals, deconstruction, language and grief. I just finished an art book using those materials.
Collection of work from an installation in 2016 featuring cold wax, pastel, and oil on insulation.
What types of media do you like to work with? Do you go in search of your subjects or do they find you?
I really love experimenting with lots of media. I find that materials open up avenues and paths that bring new ideas and approaches to the work.
Although I do have common themes, playing with materials and not thinking is always positive for my work.
You will be teaching Focusing Your Visual Voice With Encaustic and Exploring Visual Language with R&F Pigment Sticks® this year. What do these workshops focus on and what can students expect to leave with? I'm particularly interested in how you help students explore, focus, and develop their visual language.
These workshops are focused on the materials and the myriad ways that artists can use them to play and experiment. In that mode of making, I find that the participant’s own point of view or interests reveal themselves. I use many prompts, both visual and written. Visual prompts get you out of your head and allow the essence of a visual language to unfold. Writing and words give a structure to each individual’s thinking/feeling about what they are doing. I find that list making, metaphors and talking about inspirations helps to focus a personal language. Also I have an intuitive and perceptive eye when I am teaching that facilitates these kinds of realizations.
(Please note: “Focusing Your Visual Voice with Encaustic” is sold out, but there is still space in “Exploring Visual Language with R&F Pigment Sticks®.” To learn more, visit rfpaints.com/workshops/exploring-visual-language.)
Lisa Pressman, Burning Ashes 2, 7” x 5”, mixed media, 2021
What keeps you motivated in the studio? What is your typical studio day like? What's next for you?
I always leave something to do in the studio. There are stations with materials and works in progress, so I can just walk in and decide what to do that day. Occasionally cleaning up or reorganizing can be a great a motivator. Lately I don’t have a typical day in the studio. Between teaching, my business with artist Sue Stover and life, my studio practice happens in starts and stops. If I get a few hours in the studio I can get a lot done. I never was a full-day studio artist anyway. I have figured out how to accept my practice as is and work within my own timing.
A show is planned in February at The Painting Center focused on the message pieces. I also have a big project in mind that will involve my work, my late son’s work, as well as the idea of what remains and sending messages to love ones lost. This has been brewing for a year or two. I see it as an installation, which is something I haven’t done in years, so prep work is on the table.
Lisa Pressman, New York State of Mind, 24” x 24”, encaustic on panel, 2018
Sue Stover and I started a teaching platform called C2C Art Projects, featuring our joint and individual classes, along with a C2C Art Collective last year. The Collective is an online, member-focused community center, which is an exciting new opportunity for artists, teachers, and anyone with a serious interest in art. We provide access to hundreds of resources, active and engaging conversations with fellow artist professionals, and connections to wider networks of creatives. In addition to teaching at R&F this year, I will also be teaching at Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, as well as in San Miguel, Mexico.
To learn more, visit lisapressman.net. You can follow her on Instagram @lisapressmanart.