Review of 2008 Art Show
by Phyllis Gibson, 2008
If structural forms in art are metaphors for the self, then Lois York's latest body of work examines both the self's outward appearances and its most private interior passages.
The abstract, acrylic-on-canvas paintings in York's current series are all highly architectural and deeply color-drenched, but each is unique in its emotional import. In some, her subjects take on an aura of sunny permanence. Others are drawn from a safe and distant perspective, like aerial views seen just as the details begin to fade and larger patterns become apparent.
Still others offer cloaked glimpses into compartments whose contents are mysterious, dark and veiled, or pour radiant light into rooms marked by splintered ruins. Finally, York examines sections of the past -- a clinical biopsy conducted under the microscope of the artist's eye -- unafraid to explore the fragile tissue of memories as they bleed and die.
Stasis and evolution ...
Burial and excavation ...
Demolition and construction ...
Exploration and withdrawal ...
Reduction and expansion ...
Each of these potent human themes has a place among the works in York's exhibition. And there is a place in each of us that responds to the heart's changing blueprint they outline.
The shortest way to elegance is simplicity. In all my art, whether paint, fabric, paper, metals, or found objects, my quest is to reduce them to the fewest elements that can both render the design and communicate mood and emotions to the viewer.
The journey to the final product may take me a lifetime, a few hours enjoying nature, or may be a quick reaction to something totally unexpected. The joy of the job is working hard at play!
Education and Art Career
Together with the creative careers of teaching special education for gifted elementary students and practicing educational therapy, I have enjoyed the arts in both music and visual design. Prism Enterprises, my company selling my jewelry designs, branched out into my hand made quilts in 1987, and into my watercolor paintings in 1990. I was a member of The Artist Gallery in Santa Monica for eight years and have shown my work in several other venues such as street fairs and small galleries.
I have my college degree and master’s accreditation in Education. In the art fields I have studied at the Gemological Institute of America, Brentwood Art School, Otis School of Art and Design, as well as at many workshops here and abroad. My own experimentation as well as welcomed help from many teachers has helped me explore the visual arts. Some of my teachers have been Ann Thornycroft, Tom Wudle, Barbara Ashton, Helga Flower, Scott Yeskel, and Glen Vilpu.
I enjoy painting in oil, acrylic, and watercolor and often use collage or reconstruct torn paintings. My style has varied from realistic florals, vegetables, animals, people and landscapes to totally abstract color saturated experiences. Usually, some life changing experience has influenced my abstract paintings, and I often don’t know what they are about until after I have created the painting. Thus, the reason to paint on, working from a place of unknowing, always discovering.