Lisa Kesler has dedicated herself to her art practice for more than thirty years. She is a painter,
printmaker, and designer, with a BFA in painting from the University of Illinois and an MFA in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She made the decision to become an
artist in high school when several of her drawings and paintings won awards, including the Best of Show, at the regional Scholastic Art Competition. She decided to enter the painting program at the University of Illinois the following year.
Lisa approaches her painting compositions in a very intuitive way, letting them evolve as she works on them. The only part of her abstract paintings that she plans is the size and medium. While she’s painting, she thinks about the interplay of colors, the direction of the marks, and she tries to find innovative ways to apply the paint. She likes to work on large canvases most of the time, or oversized heavy printmaking paper.
During her career she has worked in different styles and mediums, but there are some common elements that seems to always be present in her work. She has a keen interest in repeating patterns and the rhythm and movement they bring to a composition. She is also aware of the role that texture plays in her art, whether it is the actual texture of the surface or the implied texture of the marks.
Sometimes Lisa incorporates both painting and printmaking together in the same piece of art. Many of her recent paintings combine these two mediums. She creates a textured background painting and then layers abstract linocut images on top of it by collaging them to the surface. The result has a unique character that she hasn’t been able to achieve any other way.