Since I began this site I’ve discovered so many wonderfully talented artists, of all disciplines.  Eventually I’d like to create a special collection featuring samples of each artist’s work, a short bio, and contact information. I’ve put together the beginnings of a list, here, for a start.

Art in Paradise: Thicker Skin

Artist Lisa Foster crafts self-portraits that examine a difficult past.

Thursday, December 08, 2011 By James Heflin

Lisa Foster’s “A Willful Assembly”

The word “quilting” tends to bring up images of industrious grandmothers, so it’s probably not the first thing that comes to mind as a medium for a fine-art examination of childhood abuse. But for artist Lisa Foster, reproduction quilting fabrics have become central to her work examining that difficult subject.

I recently spoke with Foster as she hung her canvases for Fragments, Threads and Other Stories: Art Works by Anne Krauss, Susie Reiss and Lisa Foster at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton’s Forbes Library. She told me that to her, quilting fabric was an extremely feminine, maybe even the most feminine, medium. At her blog, Foster says, “The fabrics soothe me and they soothe [the figures]. They cover their nakedness, heal some wounds, give them back some dignity. The fabrics are thicker skin.”

Though her art openly reflects her childhood abuse, she seems intent on creating work that is not dependent on knowing its context. She has succeeded. The human form may be a timeworn subject, but Foster’s canvases—which consist only of monochrome backgrounds and patchwork-filled figures—are captivating.

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Read the rest of the article: http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14389

Visit Lisa Foster’s website: www.lisaafoster.com/