SALE! Start your year with EBSQ for just $6.50/month! Click here for details.

Lori Rase Hall

Artist's Interview

How long have you been making art?: As long as I can remember. I believe I was actually painting even before I picked up a brush. It's that simple need to make marks.

What other artists and movements inform your work?: That's a hard question to answer. I suppose all artists & movements influence my work to some extent, positively and negatively. Of course there is certain art that I favor, such as the wonderful composition & design found in Japanese art, the intimacy of Henri Matisse, the intricacy of Persian Miniatures and the patterns of Moroccan and Indian art.

How would you describe your work.: I have an absolute love to produce pattern and color for pattern and color sake. It's such a meditative and integral part of how I make pictures that is always there in some form. This in turn produces what I like to think of as visuals which allow the eye to wander but in a gentle way, thus a meditation. If for instance I put together a series of circles your eye first will travel those forms before the intellect takes over. After the intellect has finished it's reach for an answer, then one is left with a very intimate relationship with very simple forms. The same can be said for color... maybe even more so (Mark Rothko.) So in a long winded explanation I believe that I make art that is very comfortable.

Do you work in media other than watercolor?: I do like to work in the 3 dimensional world too. I create & sell jewelry. I also sold some of them mounted in 3-D frames. I hope to do more of those soon. Through the years I've had the opportunity to try a lot of different media— I experimented practically everything out there! Watercolors are still my favorite.

How, if at all, have the events of 9-11 impacted your painting?: Certainly as a human being I was very impacted, which of course will influence every aspect of my life not just art. I cannot say how it will manifest itself in my work---only that it will. On a intellectual level I don't feel that it really has, but art flows from many levels. So I am sure there will be some change, only time will tell.

What do you find stimulating right now? How does this influence your creative process?: I have been really interested in all the illustrators from the 1920's such as Kay Nielsen & the Arts & Craft "guru" William Morris' tapestries, textiles & wallpapers. I'm a Graphic Artist in my 9-5 job, so graphic design & illustrators are a favorite of mine to explore. Also, I've got to say I ‘m enjoying looking at Grant Wood's landscapes---you gotta love those puffy trees!

What are your motivations for creating?: My motivation is the same for any artist, whether they are painters, musicians, or writers...to somehow document thoughts and visions in a way that is unique and different. The simple need to explore who I am; to know myself.

Tell us about some upcoming projects.: I hope to be doing some oils soon (which I haven't done since college) and as I said previously I hope to create more of my "artsy" 3-D jewelry.

What would you like your fellow EBSQ artists and collectors to know about you and or your work?: To my fellow EBSQ Artists: I really enjoy your friendly attitudes, interactions, suggestions and support. For My Collectors: I was born in Sacramento, California and received my Art training at American River College, graduating with a degree Fine Art. Since the 1980's my paintings have been exhibited in numerous galleries throughout California and the Western US. My work appears in many distinguished and private collections, and is also in the permanent collection of the E.B. Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA.