Lisa Tomczeszyn – Art and Cake

Lisa Tomczeszyn
Los Angeles CA
Age 67

What keeps you excited in the studio?
My practice is not powered by excitement but by necessity. As long as I can remember I have channeled my experience of the world onto paper or canvas. I am not saying that my art practice is a form of therapy but it is a journal of sorts.

Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
The trajectory of my work is starting to come full circle. When I was age 7, I found an ad in one of my parent’s magazines for mail order art school. These ads had a ‘Scottie Dog” that the ad suggested you draw as a submission to the school. I was already drawing everything in my dad’s garden but after seeing those ad – Scottie dogs became my obsession – I drew those dogs for almost 2 years, until one of our neighbors taught me how to paint roses.
An artist named Don Magid had a local art school in Waco Texas that my mother enrolled me at age 11 and I stayed with Don until I graduated from high school. I had planned on becoming a children’s illustrator and my work between age 17 and 19 was focused on mythic subjects. Once I went to art school my work shifted into a color field landscape practice that I explored for the next 45 years. I retired four years from a long career as a costume designer and I find my work tilting back into a more representational format.

What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
Artists are the chroniclers of human experiences. I believe the act of creating art is a uniquely human experience – it is an act that is not biologically necessary to sustain life yet from mankind’s origins humans have recorded their personal histories by making art.
Art helps us make sense of the beautiful and the horrific element of living.

What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
Listen to your own voice, respect, and honor your own voice. This does not mean that an artist cannot profit from working with mentors – but do not allow anyone to discount what your art is and how you create it.

Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
I find this an impossible question to answer – an artist whom has experienced a creative will have perspective on the process of making art that is different from someone whom has just begun their journeys of creation – but the work is equally valid.

What can we look forward to from you next?
A lifetime of creating art is in a way a continuing conversation with one’s inner self.
I hope my work will continue to illuminate what I find beautiful in the world to share with the viewer.

Is there anything else you would like to share about being an artist later in life?
The most gratifying part of having created art for 60 years is the having learned how to trust in the process. The thoughts of insufficiency and doubt still creep in from time to time – but a lifetime of creating work has taught to acknowledge the doubts but not be submerged by them.

https://lisatomczeszynart.com/
@yayadesignstudio