Liz Prescott's Art World: Creating, Teaching and Community

Have with me in the studio artist Liz Prescott. Nice to have you here today. Yes, thank you, Lisa. Happy to be Here. I understand that you and I are essentially neighbors. You live in Freeport, we're obviously here in Yarmouth and you've been in Freeport for quite a while now. Yes, since 1995. And I absolutely love it. I love the proximity to Portland and all the culture, and I love going into the mountains easily and biking, running right out my door. It is a lovely spot out there And it's a beautiful community, the Freeport community. And as soon as I had children, I realized just how close it was. You know what, when before children, I and my kids are now 15 and 19, I was oriented more to Portland. I had a store in the old port and I had, I went to Main College of Art and I worked out there. And as soon as I had children, it just opened up. We immediately started meeting more people and it's just a beautiful place. I don't wanna leave. Well, Liz, tell me about, uh, our shared Vermont connection. I mean, you can't tell me about my side of it, but you can tell me about your side of it. How, how, how did you end up, um, coming from Vermont to Maine? I know you have a Rhode Island connection. Yes. You've been in Portsmouth. You seem like you've, you've been out to Colorado, but you've definitely got New England covered. Yeah, I lived in every state in New England except Connecticut. And then my son went to school to finish up high school in, in, um, at South Kent. So I feel like I've covered all the states. I was born in Providence. My parents went to Rhode Island School of Design. Um, and then, um, I, they didn't stay together, so I divided my time between Worcester, Massachusetts and Woodstock, Vermont, where my mother was. And I just, although I was in Worcester through ninth grade, I was always in love with Vermont. It was where I wanted to be. And I spent my summers there and learned to ski. Um, and then I went on to, um, live there for a bit in high school. Uh, graduated in Massachusetts, but went to University of Vermont. So, you know, I kept cycling around. We still have close, close family friends in Vermont, so I'm up there regularly in the Middlebury area in Burlington. It's always in my heart. So Northern New England is really where I love to be. And I went to the University of Vermont for medical school. So that's, and I was actually a born in Burlington. Oh, you were? So there's my connection there. Yeah. Yes. Excellent medical school. Yes. And great liberal arts School, so yeah, absolutely. And you did your master's degree also in Vermont, but not University of Vermont. Yes. Right. So, right. So I graduated from UVM and went to out West and came to Portsmouth. My boyfriend's had connections around there, fell in love with Portsmouth, lived there for seven years. Um, but, uh, yeah, went to Maine College of Art when I moved up to Portland and then got a low residency master's, uh, from Vermont College, which was wonderful. So I'd go to Montpelier and do intensive 10 day intensives and then come back and work locally with a mentor. Uh, one was a professor at Wellesley in the printmaking department. She was wonderful. Um, and some local artists, ga Spain. And it was a fantastic experience. I Have the sense that, um, the process of being an artist and the creative process, um, those are very important to you. Oh, yeah. And it's my life and passing and also passing on the, um, artistic, I don't even wanna say education, but experience. Um, yeah, yeah. You do a lot of this work. Yeah. So I started teaching one of my friends, uh, Catherine Bickford from, uh, art ArtScope, she encouraged me to, um, start teaching for her way back. My son was a couple of years old and I thought, oh, I'm not sure if coming outta my master's. I thought, ah, I'm, I'm much more of a process-based artist. I'm not a technical, uh, conceptual that I would teach maybe at the college level. It's cuz so many of these programs are very, very conceptual. So I didn't pursue the teaching part. So Catherine pulled me in and it was teaching, you know, to to basically people that didn't paint early on in life, but wanna learn how to do it and adults. Um, and I just really fell in love with it. It's so reciprocal. Um, right now I'm teaching online through Winslow Art Center out in Seattle, um, in the middle of a class right now. And I just love it. And we've all adapted to this online format. So, you know, we have our new, our feed where they post their work and I respond and everybody can jump in. Um, and I learn as much, you know, as, as they are, I'm color mixing, doing things that I need to do for my own work. That kind of jumpstarts me. Cause we all get stuck kind of in patterns in our lives. And I'll use the same colors and teaching. I'm getting out of that and going, oh, well maybe I should pick up that, uh, you know, ultramarine violet, something like that. So, yeah, and I just, I like the connection with people too. It's a lot of time alone painting. Uh, and I am, I am introverted. I I I'm an only child, so it was easy for me to be alone for long periods. Uh, but it's important to be connected too. And I, I have that need as well. So, and that's one thing that drew me to Portland Art Gallery, is I the community. I keep hearing that again and again, and I see it at the openings. Like, this is really fun. So, yeah. Yeah. So that's, so the balance of teaching time alone and then being with people, that's, that's important to me. And, uh, did I answer the question? Yes, absolutely. Well, there's no wrong answers, really. No, because it's really about your process and your educational, um, endeavors. So I guess, you know, as a non-visual artist, uh, I, when you say words like, um, technical and conceptual, like I know people who are watching are listening and they may actually have a background in art, but because I continue to be an art learner myself, I have a sense technical is sort of, these are the things, these are ways that you do things and these are some of the materials you can use. Is that mm-hmm. somewhat, right? Yeah. Technical might not have been the right word. It was more conceptual, theoretical, um, work. I just find I am more process based, which can be very technical, but that can be more formal, which is formal meaning about the paint itself, how you apply the paint, how the colors come together, the, the theory and the mixing. Um, and rather than it can be painting anything, I'm not, I'm not, I don't start necessarily with the idea that drives the work. So the subject could be just about anything, really. The subject is paint for me and color, if that helps to answer a little bit. So yeah, so I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm more traditional in my subject matter. It, people can recognize the farm field, the water, there's a hint of a boat. That's why you only see hints of boats in my work generally, is that I don't want it to be about that boat, the object, the kind of the cuter main scene. I, I'm much more interested cause I just see so much of it. I, I, I'm interested in how the colors come together, the reflection coming off at the feel of the place, the more of the emotional experience. And I certainly could have gone to college and taught that, you know, as a college, a professor and a aspire to that. I guess I, I, uh, sometimes just get bogged down in the theoretical part of it all and just want to be doing and, and, um, yeah, there's no right or wrong, like you said, it's just, I don't know if that answered it, what you, you needed, but Yeah. Not being an artist, I'm sure that Ford's pop up themes, ideas. You're like, Hmm, what is that? Yeah, I mean, for me, what I love about having these conversations is that I, I'm continuing to build my own vocabulary around this. And so when you say something, you're more conceptual, for example. Like, what, what, what does that mean as you're doing your own work or as you're teaching? So I'm more process based. You are more process based. Yeah. Less about the ideas driving the work, whether, um, more about the feeling and the emotion in the paint and the interaction and an intuitive response to the work. That makes sense. Okay. So you're more process oriented and people who are more conceptual, that's more, Many just leap right away from painting altogether. Uh, you know, um, I'm not coming up with a good idea, right. And a thought right now. But, um, whether you, you know, you might be environmentally focused and maybe you are collecting, um, elements and residue from the ocean and it's compiled and it gets molded into sculpture of some sort that may not be beautiful in any way. I guess I am, I am a bit driven by beauty that then, and so yeah. So I'm more, maybe more traditional in that sense. Um, yeah, and I still like traditional subjects. I like landscape. Um, I do like a horizon. I think that's meditative, you know, we're all drawn often what we, we come to painting for initially what draws us in. And I did love the landscape, earth to sky is what we spend our lives trying to figure out. So that's kind of where I am. Yeah, that makes Sense. And living in Maine, obviously, it's all around. So I guess I, I love to straddle the line between abstraction and representation. So that's why I love these water reflections because I can really be abstract and, uh, just let my intuition go and play and explore more than, um, I, I get it too much in my head if I have a building in there, you know, and that, that's a good challenge actually. How do you, and I love architecture in the landscape, but how do you not make it too building, like too object too. Um, is it often the quality of light hitting a, a plane is, is really what's fantastic. Or maybe the edges can dissolve completely. Um, that's a good challenge, but, uh, it's, it's certainly the colors and the light, the landscape. Yeah. I'm about to go out west, you made me think of this, uh, to paint out New Mexico. So very different landscape, different quality of light, vastness of the sky. Yeah, I think I remember talking to Jean Jack, one of our other artists and, and she talked a lot about the different light that exists in other parts of the country and where she has also lived and how it has impacted her Art. It drives us. Several of my teachers from Main College of Art, Johnny Ross, Glen Renell, who I just listened to on an art chat at Winslow Art Center last night, which was fantastic. Johnny and Glen just headed out west and it was for the light to New Mexico and Arizona. Um, and Georg o O'Keefe, you know, who was, was the artist I was first exposed to by my stepmother. She just really loved Georg O'Keefe's simplicity. Um, and I would look at the Geor O'Keefe paintings. I just remember the skull, like, oh, actually no, it was a hi hip bone of, you know, a cow left in the desert, whatever, all bleached out by the sun. And then the o uh, the, the, um, sky behind and the landscape in the distance and the subtle modeling and shifting. And I, I was just blown away. Um, now seeing her as an adult, I, I I I value GI O'Keefe's, um, contribution to art and how difficult it was in such a man's world, you know, meant modernism. And she had to paint big and she painted her flowers and then she got criticized for all the sexual content that must be there, you know. Um, and so her, her work is very controlled, but it had a huge influence on me. Then. I loved the abstract expressionist. Robert Rauschenberg, my mother coming out of art school really was into Rauschenberg. Um, and he was all about, you know, collage and throwing elements in and every day paint and paint from wherever. And I love that gestural stroke too. So those worlds kind of come together for me. Um, so I'm excited to go out west and experiment that way too. So I'm, um, playing with color and thinking about the big space and light, uh, and seeing what I can do. And I, I won't be working real large, but I can come back and do larger pieces. Uh, it, it can be funny though because that subject matter can look out of, feel out of place here in Maine, right. , it's a very different quality of light and color a palette here. Yeah, it's true. And, and having been at the Portland Art Gallery and some people's pieces are very main focused and other people's are not as main focused. And it is interesting to see how they sometimes go together and sometimes seem like they go together a little bit less. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and that's wonderful. And I really have been more of a main painter recently because of my scenes. I've loved the working waterfront and, um, you know, boats and docks and uh, but really just as, as avenues as vehicles into playing with paint and line and form. So we'll see what happens when I go out west that's, I've been, this is kind of in brewing around in my head, like, you know, what am I gonna take from it? It certainly will be rich and rewarding and I'm gonna be with five other painters, so that'll be wonderful. I'm actually scoping out for workshops to do it Ghost Ranch in upcoming years. Cause I like to paint Plen air workshops and do them lead them. Uh, so I, I'm curious to see what I'll come up with. And you have a Monhegan connection? Yeah, Just started going there. Um, my, my stepmother and her husband af second husband, um, were married out there and they just fell in love with it. And so therefore I did, they exposed me to it. And how can you not fall in love with Monhegan? So it'll be my 10th season teaching workshops out there this year. I'll be there for two weeks. I treated and rented my a house in June as well as the one I always rent in August. The one in June is right in the harbor. And I'll offer a two day workshop and then I'll just be there painting the rest of the time with some other painter friends and family. So, yay, I'm very excited. The other one is Skuk at et Acadia, again, through, um, word of mouth. Someone's saying it's beautiful, you ought to check it out if you've been there yourself. It is spectacular. And you look across Frenchman's Bay from the SCU to Peninsula to Mount Desert. So that's been another popular one. And I just, again, I, I get fed by that being in nature. I'm not necessarily the best Panera painter. I see them as sketches and studies. I'm really a studio painter. Um, when I say not the best, it's not, it's not my real focus, but I just love being outside and, you know, I know how to do it well enough and get people out there and convening with nature. And then we go back to our studios and we see what it's, you know, what what, um, fodder we have. When you are with artists and, um, kind of working side by side, what, what types of things do you get out of the interaction? Do you look at one another's work? Do you Yes. Kind of think about, um, do people make suggestions? Do Oh man. How does that Work? Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, it is. It's a lot of back and forth. Um, and some people might have more experience than others and sometimes I'll go into a little more of a teaching mode if they're asking me to do that. Um, but yeah, we definitely feed off of each other and just be together in the environment. My favorite thing about being painting p Plan air is I, I don't really care what I come up with cuz it often is, it's challenging. You've got winds, you've got heat, you've got bright sun, the light is changing, but it's fe you, you're in the zone, you're in the flow. If all is going well and the bugs aren't, but you know, you running in too much trouble, um, with like a gale. Um, and you are just hearing things around you, oh, it's really wonderful. You're hearing the water lapping, people walking by birds, whatever it is. It's really magical. Um, so in terms of interacting with other artists Yeah, that's, we're just all being there together, having that experience. And we do, we'll, we'll definitely talk technical. Is that working or, um, and it's great to do and we have good laughs and yeah, why don't we try this, try that color or, you know, push this. It's a lot about the basics of painting value that's too dark. And colors, colors are, it's so bright outside generally that colors will, um, appear, uh, lighter or whatever. They'll, they'll be darker when we get inside. So we need to be careful. We don't paint too dark. So we'll discuss things like that. Yeah, that's interesting. I hadn't really thought about that before. Yes. And especially if you're working acrylics and now acrylics outside are very difficult. I work with slow drying acrylics, but acrylics dry darker too. So you come in and your painting just looks dark and dead and you have, you have to go in and brighten it up. I know in talking with architects, a lot of attention is paid too. The light that comes in through the windows and how it Yeah. Changes a room. And I had never really thought about if you're painting something outside, when you bring it inside, then the light on the inside is not gonna make it look the same as on the outside. Right. Right. So we end up having it be darker than we want it inside because we were out in that bright light. And then, uh, the light can be changing while you're painting it. That's incredibly difficult. Or I've been painting boats, you know, in Monegan Harbor and then the in comes the fisherman lobsterman, and off he goes in his boat. You have to be ready for that. Suddenly your subject is gone. Yeah. I noticed that you've, you do use a lot of reflection and you do a lot of work with water and of course that's something that you can capture, but it's, it's only gonna be that way for some fairly short period of time, I would think. Yeah. Yeah. I use reference photos as a jumping off point too. So I'll work on site and then I use those reference photos and I really veer from them. I, I can paint it just like I see in that photo, but I, that's not my goal. Right. It, it, I have to be careful of that too. Um, because I, I need to add whatever is making it unique to me. Yeah. But, but it is, water is always changing, but there's so much there and it's so wonderful. Like the docks in Portland, um, down at Custom Wharf and, um, Harbor Fish and the reflection off those old buildings into the water is spectacular. Oh. I was in the Portland show at Green Hut last year with some of the paintings from there, and I just, there were some of my favorites. I may go back and revisit and people responded to them. So that was, that was exciting. Um, yeah. Always changing and, um, lots of room to play. Mm-hmm. . So I love playing, playing with paint. Well that's good to hear because I think that one of the things that I often hear from artists is that his work, that that art is work. So I love the idea that it can be work, but also you can be playing while you work. Cuz that's not something that everybody gets to do in their work is to play. Right. We have to often make a conscious effort to play. So, and actually, I used this quote by Picasso that I happen to find in an art book for my class, such start of this Wednesday. And he said, I'll just nut verbatim. But, um, that every child is an artist. And the, the, the challenge, the goal is to continue being a child as you continue as an artist. And it's so hard to do. We get in our heads and I, you have to remember that, oh, this is supposed to be fun and play. I, this doesn't have to be torturous, but you have to do the work. That's the other thing that I tell students and myself. You have to show up each day. You can't just kind of, you really can't be a Sunday painter and get where you wanna go if you're really trying to go somewhere with it. It's a practice just like learning a piano, yoga, et cetera. So, so finding like eeking out time for the studio is super important. And I, boy, you have to be careful even just jumping on the phone for a minute, you know, you get a text or whatever, I have to structure my day and really put that phone away and don't run over and do that email real quick, but make sure that I show up in the studio because also it it, he, you don't just sit down and like make that cutting board or whatever it, you don't know. You may, you often have to make a lot of mess and mistakes to get to the beautiful ones. One of my teachers that Glen Renell that I just listened to yesterday, I haven't seen him in years, but, um, he was talking about that too. There are many, many failures. So you do a whole bunch in a series and the gems will pop out at you. Right. And then there'll be always be some that just aren't good. Picasso had them all, everybody, all the painters. You, you don't realize that, especially when you're starting out. You think every painting should be amazing or your failure. Well, isn't that somewhat the way that we're raised Yes. Is to think that we all should be immediately perfect. Pro and product oriented. Myself too. That's one of the things I preach and the Plen air classes is these are sketches, these are learning, you know, these can be thrown away. We often do them just on paper so they're not precious. Yeah. We wanna come away with something and we wanna feel that we're gonna be really good. And that's just, it's a winding road. I remember when I was younger and I took a pottery class and the cost of the clay was extra. And so being that I came from a large family, I didn't want my mom to have to pay for extra clay. So I would sit here and look at this clay and I was so concerned about my thing not being perfect that I think I made very, very few items and probably ended up with a big mound of clay leftover because I Right. I didn't wanna use up what Yes. I didn't think I could make perfect. You Were programmed Right. And you didn't wanna waste. Right. All of that. And that makes total sense. And it's the frugal new Englander for mon. Yes. This is another thing that I preach and, and I don't have a problem with is, um, but it took me time is don't skimp on paint. You cannot skimp on paint. And paint is expensive. You know, maybe start with less expensive paint, but of course the best paint is much better, a better product generally. Um, yeah. You ha you have to, I throw away a lot of paint. I've let that go. Well that's Good to hear. But coming, yeah. Coming from a big family and it is, it's very expensive. It, it makes total sense. You would make this very tiny little pot and not waste . It was probably Perfect. Well, I mean also I remember at the time I had twin sisters who took the class with me and both of whom were probably a little bit more artistically inclined, or at least in my mind. Yeah. My young mind at the time. And I'm probably getting into some deep psychology. Oh, I'm sure it's Gonna be surprising. Competition of family. Yeah. Let's dig into this. That's a lot. Yeah, exactly. Um, and, and, and they actually ended up getting more clay cuz they finished up all their clay and they Oh, I love it. They got more clay. And I was like, but wait, I, I'm trying to, I'm trying because they was the oldest, you Know, you were the Oh, well that's, that explains it. Yeah. Explains a lot. Absolutely. Right. You had a lot of weight on your shoulders. Yeah. But I think that it does that sort of thing and that story is something that I, I suspect a lot of people struggle with when it comes to Very much so Creativity and I'm giving themselves sort of almost permission to do something Yes. That they don't, that is quote, not necessary. Mm-hmm. , although being creative, I would argue is as necessary to us as humans as really anything else. Mm-hmm. that this book that I'm so into Rob, Rob, um, Rick Rubins, the creative, um, actor way of being talks so much about that. That we are all artists that are, you know, being human is and everything, all our choices are self-expression and creative. Um, but yeah. And that we just have, we have different personalities. We have to allow ourselves to make failures, make mistakes. This is, I mean, painting is definitely psychology and some therapy as teachers, you know, you dig into that, what's going on in your head? I love it when people are like, this is awful. I hate this. And I've found students ripping up their work or whatever and I make sure we have a good laugh about it. Like, it's okay, this is part of the process. Yeah. It's a, it's an interesting thing to think about and what we maybe hand down to our own children without even realizing it because of some way that we've had this kind of deeply ingrained and not even necessarily from our parents. Yeah. But maybe it's just the culture that we live in. Maybe it's the frugal new Englander culture that we come from. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. People have trouble putting a lot of pain out and you need to in order to do well. So that, that is absolutely, whether it's the New England thing, I, I don't think it's just New England ish . Sure. You know, we know it's expensive, so, um, but we have to allow that, so. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got, I've, you know, just, I've been painting now for 25 years and drawing since I was a kid and doing watercolor and things. Um, so you just, you learn over time how to loosen up what you need. Um, I, I love podcasts that are about creativity and, you know, people in, in general learning about especially creatives, how they get work through these challenges. Um, so over time it's gotten better now in my fifties and I'm, I'm just better to myself. I don't beat up on myself as much and I trust the process more. What are some of your biggest learnings and how have you managed to get to this place? Yeah. Um, I think, um, well I've always worked very small, so like learning to work bigger and I don't know what that was about me, but it's funny you say at Lisa, like when you were a kid and you were very careful with your sisters, maybe not, but I loved little, little things. I always loved little animal figurines and little, little boxes. And sure enough I made little paintings, but it's probably just good. And um, it's a metaphor for me, just opening up, going bigger has been a, something I've, I've learned to do. And you're, you have more to say. You know? And also where I get into, oh God, I don't like this, and what do I do with this thing? You know? And they start to accumulate and I do have a fair amount of those. So I've learned that. One. Another important thing for me, and I do have trouble with, cause I'm a pretty active person's, hard to sit down. Um, writing, just, just taking time and journaling and getting the proc, getting out what's in my head and so that I'm a little more open when I go to paint. That's a really good thing. And in general, painting just calms me right down and centers Me too. So it's really helpful. So I've that I've, I've learned to allow That. So it sounds a little bit like the, the idea of the morning pages, the Julia Cameron approach That's right. Where you get things out and then you're Yeah. You're able to kind of enter into a space that's a little bit more freed up. Yes. Not just a little, a lot. I do follow her. I came back around because I had listened to a podcast of her, had her book forever, didn't really follow the daily pages and then thought, oh, I need to do this again. You know, and again, I come and go, but I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna beat myself up on that. That's all right. But in general, I, what I was just learning in another, um, thing I was reading was listening to, um, actually is the chiropractor from Yarmouth on 2 0 7, just talking about, uh, journaling in general, activating different parts of the brain and how good that is for us. Um, getting into the habitual part of it. Mm-hmm. . Um, and then of course the organization part and the front. I think the frontal lobe, I don't know, um, hippocampus back there, Zach being activated and like, oh, this is all good. Cause I don't want my brain to start slacking off . That's right. I'm certainly forgetful now more than I used to be. So, so another good reason. So I, it, yeah, it's just, I think life is very much a self-expression and, and art is self-expression and self-portrait. You Did a series about Cairns. Yes. And if art is about self-portraiture, then what does that reflect about you? Yeah, well certainly about, you know, fi I mean, we could go right to the obvious finding direction. , I mean, I could say that I also just love the forms, um, the way they stacked. Um, and then how they were just a vehicle to play with, again, how they vary. And I love them against the contrast of the more design oriented backgrounds with whether it was stripes or I started into these wild, um, backgrounds against the Cairns and the color interaction. Um, but you know, I, I do love nature. I've always enjoyed Karens. I take pictures of them when I'm out hiking. Um, like at Acadia, I got some great ones with my portrait lens and got all excited and on top of Cadillac. Um, and, uh, that's a series I probably will revisit too. So, but, but I lived in two homes and, you know, product divorce, so my master's theor, uh, thesis was about that. About, um, memory identity, dislocation, presence and absence. Absence. Um, so very much about finding home. Um, yeah. So then my whole bird series had topographical lines behind it as well. But again, I love the design, the contrast of the bird, the, the realism against that abstraction. I always, when I looked at, see what you've just described as something that, that is so interesting to me because it's not obviously what I bring to the Cairns or what I brought to the pieces I was looking at of yours. And I've always thought of it as sort of humans talking to each other through these ancient things, these, these stones. Yes. And stacking them in a way like, this is, this is the way I have found, maybe this is a way that would be helpful to you as well, but like, these really, um, kind of primal messages that are being left for us along the way. That gave me chills when you said that. I love that too. Absolutely. And I, I think on some level, I've, I'm drawn to them for that reason too. It is amazing. Like, here, here's this message left by somebody else, you know, go this way. This is the, this is the path. Often we veer off it. Right. But Yeah. And then the beauty, this, the old, you know, the earth, the rock, the, and what we use, we've used to help it help us guide ourselves. Hmm. That's fun. I, it's interesting to, to hear different interpretations. Well, doesn't it also make you think of that? Is it bubble rock, the one that's in Acadia that kind of sits by itself on the top of the mountain? There's The bubbles. The bubbles? Well, there's a rock that just sits by itself. Oh. And it's a big round rock and it sits at the top of hiking path. Okay. And it looks as if some giant just came along and said, I'm gonna put this here. Yeah. And I, I love that idea too, that there's this large force, and of course it's glaciers not, not likely giants. Cause I don't think we saw facial Erratic. Yeah,