Lisa Pixley
Not So Still Life
Lisa Pixley is an artist printmaker located in Portland Maine. She received her BFA with a concentration in painting from the Maine College of Art. After graduating, Pixley began a focus in the craft of print, both as a commercial and artistic practice. She studied as an apprentice with David Wolfe of Wolfe Editions where she worked closely with artists such as Charlie Hewitt and Allison Hildreth. In 2009, Pixley founded Pickwick Independent Press in Portland, a for profit shared access print studio where she worked as director, master printer, and events coordinator, while also maintaining an active art practice in the medium of printmaking. Last winter, Pixley has developed a body of work consisting of suites of prints for the launch of her new studio boutique, PrintCraft. PrintCraft is a fine art print studio with a mission to bring exquisite but affordable prints and stationary to market in her new store front located in Portland’s West End.
Artist Statement:
I wanted this year’s work, this momentous year of great change in my life, to be a balance of the exotic and contemporary, while also holding it’s own with the traditions of print. I want this year’s work to be a representation of my ongoing study of the craft of printmaking while showcasing my “coming into my own”. And I feel it as such, I feel this work is my own. It’s the work an artist makes when they finally understand what their mentors where trying to teach them, while at the same time giving themselves permission to disregard some of those teachings. Aesthetically, this work is heavily informed and inspired by artist printmakers such as Fèlix Vallotton, Mauricio Lasansky, and Leonard Baskin, as well as the traditions of Japanese woodblock and Ukiyo-e prints. Like many of the works made by these influences, my goal is to create images of the poetry that is inherent in everyday life. I want to glorify everyday life the way rock music, or movies might. I want to create images that howl with tenderness, and pain, like an old Billy Holiday song might, while still being, on the surface, just a little song. There is something so compelling about trying to capture, but not limit a moment. I’m looking for scenarios both intimate in detail but “everyday” enough to represent an idea of a moment that may occur a thousand times or once a lifetime, like the chorus in a love song. In my work, I am looking to represent moments so universal, I can’t help but stylize them, like an opera or Kabuki theatre, while also seeking a level of emotional realism. My aim is to treat my subjects with forgiveness, to redeem where I can, and to find glimmers of beauty in our awkwardness. Most of all, I want to make pictures, lovely pictures to hang in the salon, like the French used to. But not so fancy that they wouldn’t be prints anymore. The sort of thing people might see and love, and want. Maybe this is what every artist wants, to make images that resonate with people, but with this work, I gave myself permission to actively make it a goal, to seek my audience through shared experience, while finding a visual language that might feel fresh and new.
Education
BFA, Maine College Of Art, Portland, ME
Penland School Of Craft, Penland, NC
Master Print Apprentice Program, Wolfe Editions, Portland, ME
Haystack Mountain School Of Craft, MCA Craft Weekend
Appointments And Special Projects
Designer/Printer, Governor Janet Mills
Professor Of Printmaking, University Of New England, 2014-current
Master Printer, Printcraft, 2018-current
Owner/Founder, Printcraft, Studio Boutique, 2018- Current
Artist In Residence, University Of Evansville, 2017
Instructor, Haystack Mountain School Of Craft, 2018
Instructor, Haystack Mountain School Of Craft, Maine Crafts Association, 2016
Master Printer, Pickwick Independent Press, 2009-2015
Instructor, Pickwick Independent Press, Workshops, 2012-15
Apprentice, David Wolfe, Master Printer, Wolfe Editions, 2012-2013
Director/Founder, Pickwick Independent Press, 2009-2015
Guest Curator, Victoria’s Wonderama, Victoria Mansion, Portland, ME, 2012
Event Director, Analog Tweets, Space Gallery, 2011
Event Director, Steamroller Print-off, Space Gallery, 2010
Illustrator, Maine Magazine, 2010
Guest Illustrator/Designer, Rogues Gallery Clothing, 2008
Manager, The Artist Studio, Portland, ME, 2005-current
Artist’s Assistant, Alison Hildreth, Portland, ME, 2008 – 2009
Designer & Event Coordinator, Open Studio Exhibition and Catalogue, The Artist Studios, Portland, ME, 2000-2005
Guest Curator, The Ostrich Diaries, Space Gallery, Portland, ME, 2006
Instructor, Maine College Of Art Continuing Studies, Portland, ME, 2004
Awards
2012 - Saint Botolfs Society, Emerging Artist Award
2012 - Maine Arts Commission, Good Idea Grant
Selected Exhibitions
2020 - Putting On Airs, Solo Show, Press Hotel, Portland, ME
2018-2020 - Printmaking group shows, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME
2015-2017 - Faculty Show, University of New England Art Gallery
2017 - University Of Evansville, Contemporary Art Gallery, Solo Show
2012 - Pickwick Independent Press, Print Exhibit, Rose Contemporary Gallery, Portland, ME
2012 - Victoria’s Wonderama (Curator), Portland, ME
2011 - Trophies, Rabelais Books, Portland, ME
2011 - Group Exhibition, University of Southern Maine Library, Portland, ME
2011 - Print Exhibition, University Of Maine, Augusta, ME
2010 - Kingdom, Whitney Artworks, Portland, ME
2010 - Four And Twenty, Space Gallery, Portland, ME
2009 - Comical, Center For Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2008 - Forever Young, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockport, ME
2006 - Ostrich Diaries, Space Gallery, Portland, ME
2006 - Group Show, Zero Station, Portland, ME
2004 - Boundaries, The Hay Gallery, Portland, ME
2003 - Decadence, The Hay Gallery, Portland, ME
2003 - Treats, The Hay Gallery, Portland, ME
2003 - New Talent, The Hay Gallery, Portland, ME
2003 - The Fetish Garden, The Hay Gallery, Portland ME
2000 - “But Honey, Does It Match The Couch?” Site-specific Installation, 538 Congress Street, Portland, ME
