Six of the Best 41: Lisa Flowers Ross

Leaf Stack #43, 2021, hand dyed fabrics, thread,
24” x 18” mounted on stretcher bars

Part 41 of an interview series in which artists reply to the same six questions. Lisa Flowers Ross is an Idaho-based artist working with fabrics and other materials that she combines into pieces that emerge as semi-abstract recollections of natural forms, or as more formal abstract pieces. Lisa has been awarded several artist residencies including at Playa in Oregon, Brush Creek in Wyoming, Flathead Lake Biological Station (through Open AIR) in Montana, and in May 2022 she will spend a couple of weeks at the Holly House in Shelton, WA. In June 2022 her work will be shown in Baker City, Oregon, and in 2023 at the Visions Art Museum in San Diego. You can see more of her work here. Other interviews on this blog are available here.

Philip Hartigan: What medium/media do you chiefly use, and why?

Lisa Flowers Ross: Currently, my main medium is fabric. I started creating artworks with fabric in 2002. Before that,  I received my art degree in drawing. But after college, I dabbled in different media over the  years. Eventually, I found my way to fabric and it is the one that has stuck for the longest  period.  

Several years after I started working with commercial fabrics, I wanted to have more choices of colors, so I learned how to hand-dye my own fabrics. Now, I mix all my colors using just the pure primary dye colors of red, yellow and blue. This way I can create my own palette. Hand dyeing the fabric creates subtle variations in the color which gives it a slightly more organic, handmade sensibility.  

I do not have a wet studio and do most all my dyeing outside during the summer. Usually once  a year, I will dye large amounts of fabric at one time. The fabrics have accumulated over the  years and I now have a fairly large selection from which to chose. 

We are all surrounded by fabric on a daily basis and, therefore, I feel like people can relate to it very well. It is a very tactile medium and has lots of 2D and 3D possibilities.

PH: What piece are you currently working on?

LFR: Right now, I have just completed an artwork in my Leaf Stack series and several pieces in my  Field Studies series. The Leaf Stack series began in 2014 and the Field Studies series in 2015. I  have been jumping back and forth between them over the years. They are very different in their  inspiration.  

The Leaf Stack series comes from my imagination and exploring implied transparency,  overlapping forms and intersections of lines using a simple leaf shape as a starting point. I have just completed Leaf Stack #44. My Field Studies series is inspired by various natural locations around the Western states.  Eventually, I hope to expand this to other states, as well. But since I live in Boise, Idaho, I am  starting regionally.  

I also create other artworks and have a few other series, but these two are the main ones I keep returning to.

Field Study (I10Pa1), 2022, hand-dyed fabrics, thread, 28-1/2” x 26”

PH: What creative surprises are happening in the current work?

LFR: Recently, I have been wanting to work in a more environmentally friendly way by using found  materials. Toward the end of last year, I was able to complete an artwork called Daily Press/ Press Daily that used men’s work shirts and a letterpress drawer. This artwork is quite outside my usual realm. I think it surprised many people. It took a long time for the idea to coalesce  and come to fruition. As my brain continues to mull over found materials, I have a new idea for  a 3D artwork that uses “fabric yarn” which is created by twisting two strips of fabric together. I have been making this fabric yarn by hand recently to use up small pieces of fabric that  otherwise are too small to be usable.

PH: What other artistic medium (or non-artistic activity) feeds your creative process?

LFR: In the past, I have also worked in printmaking. I find that that medium seems to work a different part of my brain than working with fabric. Working with fabric is more of an additive process where I am adding and arranging pieces on my design wall, while printmaking has quite a few subtractive processes such as carving away areas on a linoleum block or etching. Since our community press studio has shut down, I have not done as much printmaking  recently.  

Over the years, I have also done several different daily projects for various amounts of time. During one daily project, I made small collages using found papers and other materials. These smaller works give me the satisfaction of working quicker to complete something, as working with fabrics and stitching can take some time. They also give me license to explore, as I do not  plan a design like I do with fabric, but instead let the materials guide the work. 

Also in the last couple of years, I have gone back to doing a bit of painting, mostly working on small 3 inch x 3 inch canvases to try my hand at plein air painting. I have also painted swatches on paper to use for small collages. That process is very similar to my working with fabrics. I have a selection of colors to choose from and then I cut shapes and put them together. 

The best non-artistic activity that feeds my creative process is being out in natural areas, either hiking, bicycling, walking, or kayaking. Nature provides the most inspiration.

Daily Press/Press Daily, 2021, found materials, 14-1/2” x 22"

PH: What's the first ever piece of art you remember making?

LFR: I remember always liking to do arts and crafts before starting school and throughout my education. I do remember in elementary school we had a contest to create a fire safety poster. I drew Snoopy escaping from his dog house which was on fire. The school hung all the artworks in the hallway. One day I walked by  and saw that my artwork was missing. I thought maybe someone took it down because they didn’t like it or maybe it fell and had gotten swept away. Eventually, I found out they had taken it down because it had won an award.  

During that same period, I remember a very encouraging art teacher I had in elementary school  who motivated me and gave me a watercolor she had painted. It was probably just made as a  demonstration for class but I was over-the-moon that she had given me an original piece of art

PH: Finally, and you can answer this in any way that's meaningful to you: why are you an artist?

LFR: I am a very visual person. I learn better through visual images and from watching others do  something. I am very observant of the world around me. I feel that I can express myself best through my art. Also, I just love making things with my hands and creative problem-solving.  When I am working and can get into the “zone,” it is peaceful and calming. Being an artist  means I can create whatever I want. I am in complete control of the outcome, get to make all  the decisions and can claim the work as my own. When people view my art, I love hearing their own interpretations of it, an emotion they feel, a  moment they remember or a recollection of a favorite place. It’s my way of connecting with  people.
 

If you liked this interview, and you'd like to keep up to date with the series, why not Subscribe to my Artist Newsletter via the link in the right-hand column? Thanks, and keep creating.