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Bio
Lisa Nelson Raabe has worked as an art teacher, art therapist and yoga therapist, delving into the relationships between our bodies, stored emotion, thoughts and memories. A long time weaver, Lisa graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago and in 2021 received an MFA in painting from Bradley University.
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 with her husband, poet and writer Burton Raabe and their cat Zorba.
Artist’s Statement
My current two dimensional work comes 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 while dying and
transforming paper. 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. These spontaneous forms lead me to respond with
bits of nature, glass microspheres, pigments, paper and pigment to bring out an emotional kind of place found within each work.
Thread is an essential drawing tool I use to create rhythmic zigzags, circuitous curves and crystalized forms. These are adhered or sewn into the paper. Working like a textile artist, I create 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.
1. What books have influenced your life?
In the big picture, books that offer a glimpse into an Eastern. Everything and Nothing by Meher Baba, What does it Mean to be Human by Frederick Frank and Choosing to Love the World by Thomas Merton. But let’s face it reading an Alice Munro short story can top just about anything.
2. What are you currently working on?
I’m exploring using dye and patina on calligraphy paper, collaging and incising into to form a single layer. Acrylic medium can create a beautiful translucency in the materials that hold interest from back and front. Creating free hanging pieces not attached to a ground is sparking my curiosity.
3. How has failure set you up for later success? What was your favorite failure?
Too many failures to list them all and the failures lead to something unexpected. I attempt an attitude of exploration knowing that if the painting doesn’t read well it can be cut, sewn, worked over, bleached out…..it will surface somewhere else in parts and pieces. It’s cutting off the judging mind that drives the process.
4. What is your most unusual habit?
I love what falls on the floor. I’ve done entire pieces made of tape that were generated from picking up what was laying on the studio floor.
5. If you could have any painter, living or dead paint your portrait who would it be and why?
Alex Katz. I’d like to see myself in that kind of serene stillness addressing the viewer.
Fill in The Blanks
6. What is the most indispensable item in your studio/workspace/office? What is your studio like? Could you share an image?
Funny to think that foam core might be it. I need a surface that can support and also receive pins when I’m drawing with thread. The ironing area, which is a large table with teflon sheets over it is used a lot, and don’t forget plenty of sheets of plastic.
7. When you feel overwhelmed or uninspired what do you do? What do you do to get out of a funk? What questions do you ask yourself?
I think going with the funk is essential. Practice and constancy, not waiting for inspiration. Finding what I wasn’t expected comes from brutally cutting through my own resistances.
8. Who/What influences your work?
I love everything textile even though I don’t meet most of the criteria any more. Art Brut pared with Pattern and Decoration and a bent toward Minimalism (at least to get started).
9. Do you collect anything?
I have a nice collection of paintings from people I love. I also have too many beads, bits of nature and far too many scarves and embroidered anything in boxes.
10. What words of advice would you give to your younger self?
Goofing up really will serve you in the long run. Keep falling in love and traveling. Separating fine art and commerce has it’s benefits, but don’t be afraid to network.
11. In the last five years what new belief, or habit has most improved your life or studio practice?
I completed an MFA just a few years ago. It gave me a push to explore materials with the aid of seasoned voices. I find myself coming back to what I’ve done in new ways with different combinations. The people I have met have enhanced every aspect of my studio work.
12. Share an inspiring image.
James May Gallery | 2201 N Farwell, Milwaukee, WI | 262-753-3130
"Then Something Let's Go": A meditation on memory, meaning and material, featuring Meghan Sullivan, Kendra Bulgrin & Lisa Nelson Raabe is open from November 7th through December 7th, 2024.
See what is happening at the gallery:
Please continue to support us by visiting us in person at our new location: 2201 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee or check out our Artsy page.
Feel free to contact us:
mail@jamesmaygallery.com 262-753-3130
HOURS: Thur 10:30-5:30 Fri 11- 5:30 Sat 10:30-5:30
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