Introducing: Laurie Fisher
I’m so pleased to be able to share a glimpse into the studio and a bit of the inspiration driving the work of Maine-based artist, Laurie Fisher. Known for her refined, minimal style and bold use of bright color, Laurie is an artist I’ve had the privilege of working with behind the scenes for a few years now. Her thoughtful, measured approach is evident in both her paintings and the way she engages with the world. A trip to Laurie’s studio is always sure to be the highlight of my day. I leave with the unique sensation of feeling both energized and at ease after spending any amount of time with her.
Laurie found her way to painting after time spent writing, raising her family, and pursuing a Master’s degree in psychology. In her words: “I started painting when I grew tired of explaining things in words. I find it a clearer, more straightforward expression of my sight, insight, and experience. The experience of painting and the art itself feels broad and unnameable. The written word, aside from poetry, had limits. Painting, so far, has none.”
Showing her paintings throughout various galleries along the East Coast, not to mention Serena & Lily stores nationwide, Laurie’s work can also be seen at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in their permanent collection.
What drives you to create?
Total obsession. Creating something as pure and beautiful as I can in any given moment is a bigger challenge than you might think. I find it takes perseverance, introspection, vulnerability. And the pursuit just keeps evolving and stretching me, so the learning and growth feels infinite. It’s addicting.
You’ve noted that color is the subject of your work. Has this always been the case? Has your relationship with color changed as your work has evolved?
For sure. I have an early memory of a neighbor making fun of me for my choice of sneakers (a hideous 1970’s color combo) but I always have been attracted to color, and especially the feelings — ease, joy, discomfort — that can be activated through color and color relationships.
Who are your favorite artists?
I have so much admiration and respect for many many artists across time and genres. Here are a few that give me that punch-in-the-gut feeling: Helen Frankenthaler, Stanley Whitney, Mark Rothko, Patrick Heron, William Perehudoff, Ellsworth Kelley, Ray Parker, Etel Adnan, Agnes Martin.
Where do you find inspiration?
In the color. In the actual paint itself. Once painting, my choices are influenced by nature and the outside world - I’m unconsciously imprinted by the sea, smells, brief flashes of color and light, incongruousness and harmony.
How has your training and background in psychology influenced your work?
I’m not sure it has influenced my work as much as the thing that makes me interested in psychology is born of the same curiosity and urge that drives my painting. It’s a deep desire to know and uncover my truest and purest experience of being alive, and of “self.” In psychology this is a more universal, outward desire for the same knowing— for humanity, for others for all beings— to be known, and supported to live their unique truths as well.
Do you have any go-to solutions for when you’re feeling creatively blocked?
I look through images I’ve saved - of paintings, maybe, but also anything beautiful. But then, the only way out of a creative block for me is to get paint on a brush and start painting - something, anything. It turns off my thinking brain, which at that point is anxious and trying to problem solve the block cerebrally, and unlocks some other mystery part of my being that is really driving this whole thing.
What do you remember about your first sale as an artist?
It was a landscape. I remember feeling vulnerable and so honored that someone really wanted my work to exist permanently in their lives and space. And like I had just faked someone out — like if they only knew that I don’t know what I’m doing.
Describe the moment you found out one of your paintings was acquired by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Disbelief, gratitude, disbelief, hiding, shrugging, gratitude.
Tell us about the artwork you have hanging in your home.
I love an eclectic mix. I bought an oil painting - a close up of a cow’s face by a Vermont artist named Carolyn Droge - in a gallery in Lambertville, NJ about 10 years ago. It’s so realistic and beautiful - the cow’s name is Stacy. She’s framed in gilded gold, and it’s one of my all-time favorite paintings. Up against and in the same space with other abstracts and landscapes, she is the glue that holds all the work together.
How do you spend your time outside of the studio?
Mostly thinking about the work and getting back into the studio!
I have young adult daughters who I adore and I seek out whenever I can. And I love being on the water in the summer, running/walking especially along the coast, trying to keep up with the weeds, reading about and studying painting. I’m a bit burned out on obligatory cooking but food and wine are a fun pastime too.
A dream vacation or travel destination?
I’m a homebody, but I do love everything about long stays in Bermuda. And I’d happily experience New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, France. I’d also love to go back to the UK (I lived in London for a few years while I was very young) and I think some cool, gray, rocky, misty, salty, briny, visits to the coast in Wales and Cornwall are deeply embedded in my cells - I have visceral flashbacks so often here in Maine.
