Studio Life

Opening Night at Cove Street Arts

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Last week, I had the excitement of attending an opening reception at Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine for a show that includes a great variety of my work. We had a wonderful turn out with friends from near and far. I felt warmed to see different parts of the community gather to explore my pieces, as well as the work of Susan Amons and Richard Remsen.

I’m really pleased that the gallery chose to include pieces from the assorted mediums I work with — watercolors, oil on wood paintings, mosaics, and linoleum block prints.

The show features 26 square mosaics, displayed in two grids. It was delightful to see what happens when the mosaics are side by side, all their similarities and differences shining.

If you weren’t able to make it to the opening, please go check out the exhibition! The show is up through January 21st, 2023 at Cove Street Arts on 71 Cove Street in Portland, Maine. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from 10:00am – 5:30pm and Saturday from 10:00am – 5:00pm.

I’d be happy to meet you at the gallery to explore the exhibit together. Please reach out to me at lisahouckart@mac.com if you are interested, or if you’d like to come by my studio in Cape Elizabeth (open by appointment).

Mosaics, Studio Life

A Year of Nipping Constantly

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Cutting and placing smalti tiles in my Cape Elizabeth, ME Studio

On any given day this year, I could be found nipping ceramic and glass tiles into small components to make mosaics. It made for a good soundtrack for my days in the studio.

A Night Out, 8″ x 8″, mosaic

The background of this piece is created using opus palladium or “crazy paving,” which refers to cutting all the pieces into various shapes and sizes. The background of A Night Out is composed of Mexican smalti (handmade glass tiles).

The rest of the mosaic features a combination of handmade ceramic tiles fired in our test kiln (notice the green leaves on the right hand side) and Murano Millefiori glass, which is made in Italy by cutting cross sections of bundled glass into small circles. Millefiori means a thousand flowers — so it is apt that I used a Millefiori for the flower under the bird’s beak (as well as the bird’s eye and the yellow-brown leaf in the center).

If you’re curious about where I source my materials, I get my smalti and ceramic pieces from two related sites — smalti.com and witsendmosaic.com. The Murano Millefiori glass comes from their website here.

Emerging in Early Spring, 8″ x 8″, mosaic

This mosaic features a large yellow-green ceramic leaf made here at the studio, more smalti pieces, and a few commercial ceramic and glass bits as accents.

Grid of 8″ x 8″ mosaics

These pieces will be featured at an upcoming show “Menagerie a Trois” at Cove Street Arts on 71 Cove Street in Portland, Maine. There is an opening reception on Thursday, December 1st from 5 to 7pm. The show is up through January 21st and features two other artists, Susan Amons and Richard Furneaux Remsen. Hope to see you there!

Painting, Studio Life

Exploring Central Park, Spring 2022

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Three Commissioned Paintings

Gapstow Bridge

In the spring of 2022, I had the wonderful opportunity to create three commissioned watercolors inspired by Central Park in NYC. I spent hours wandering the park to find the images that spoke to me.

Back in the studio, I began sketching, referring to the photos I took in the park.

Side-by-side of one of the many bright floral portals of Bow Bridge and my drawing of it

I combined the natural formations, architectural features, and wildlife that called out to me to create a tryptic. I have a cousin to thank for my familiarity with the winged-creatures of the park; he is an avid bird watcher who shared his photos of egrets, ring-necked ducks, and American bitterns from Central Park with me.

Once I had everything sketched out, I started to paint and interpret the natural world with my own palette of colors.

In the studio, I explored how the natural fences made of found branches, the cobblestone walkways, and carved stone features in the park could be transformed into different colors and patterns.

Gapstow Bridge drawing and final watercolor comparison
A video of the three watercolors where they live on Central Park West
Studio Life

Musings on Maine, Mosaics & Mixed Media

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My small kiln filled with little ceramic creations destined for use in mosaics

I’ve been living in Cape Elizabeth, ME for two years now, and I love watching the changing seasons and walking on the beaches. I have been making a lot of mosaics inspired by the trees, plants and little creatures in my neighborhood.

Meeting Near the Big Wave, linoleum block print

I have also been continuing to work on a series of linoleum block prints. I recently completed this piece, a diptych filled with patterns and designs from the underwater world. One of these will be auctioned off at the Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine in Portland, ME on May 13 to raise needed funds for community programs at the museum.

Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth with garnet sand
Ceramics, Studio Life

Designing a Fireplace

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During the last year, I had the opportunity to create a unique fireplace surround for a family in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The home owner was planning to hang a tapestry of her own design above the fireplace, so we worked together to compose a harmonious space.

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My studio assistant Jill Strait and I made dozens of ceramic leaves and custom gray tiles for the background.

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With the help of a grinder the tiles were sized, and we laid out the leaves to put together a pleasing composition.

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Regina Gaudette and Rika Smith McNally helped me with the installation.

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We used thin-set mortar that was dyed with green powdered pigments to attach the leaves to the gray tiles.

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After a long day of work, we had a fireplace!

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Printmaking, Studio Life

Four Big Birds

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Last May I participated in a class with Julia Talcott at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown.  In this class we carved  24″ X 36″ linoleum blocks and created big black and white prints.  We printed the blocks using a steamroller.

Over the last few months I worked on additional linoleum block prints and now I have a series of four prints completed.  I worked at MIXIT Studio in Somerville during the summer to print the four pieces in editions of ten.  The prints are inspired by the Hokusai show I saw recently at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the work of John James Audubon.

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Carving the linoleum for Swooping and Swirling

Printing Swooping and Swirling at MIXIT studio in Somerville, MA
Printing Swooping and Swirling at MIXIT studio in Somerville, MA

Flying and Fishing
Flying and Fishing

Wading and Wondering
Wading and Wondering

Swooping and Swirling
Swooping and Swirling

Watching and Waiting
Watching and Waiting

Printmaking, Studio Life

Haystack, How Do I Blog Thee?

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I had not been to Haystack in over 35 years.  I was there three times as a young emerging artist, twice in ceramic classes and once as a teaching assistant in printmaking.  This place is as beautiful and inspiring as ever.  Even more so than it was for me in my twenties.  To have two peaceful weeks in a studio filled with artists of all ages and backgrounds to pursue some new directions in Japanese woodblock printing with our teacher Takuji Hamanaka made me delirious with the possibilities.  I was in the studio until midnight most nights.  Haystack thoughtfully brings together passionate teachers and a delightful mix of artists/makers/craftspersons/game changers.

The view from the top deck at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
The view from the top deck at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

The buildings are perfectly designed by Edward Larabee Barnes for working and for resting (mostly working). Haystack is designed to nurture creativity and to encourage questioning and to respect and revere the search for meaning.  I was touched that the campus has been so lovingly rebuilt over and over and it was still there for me when I was ready to go back there this summer.  So much was the same.  The sense of community, the great food, the conversations between the generations, the freezing dips in the ocean, the auction where so much generosity was put forth to raise money for scholarships.  Below are a few views of the thousands of worn shingles that cover the buildings at Haystack.

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Painting, Public Art, Studio Life

The Bluefish is Back

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This mural spent the winter being re-painted in my studio in the South End of Boston and now it has been re-installed in its proper place at 237 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA.  Thank you to George Hagerty and Justin Bothwell of US Art for their hard work moving the mural and getting it back up on the building.

Getting Started on the re-Install.
Getting started on the installation.

This project was directed by Rika Smith McNally, the director of the art conservation program at the Cambridge Arts Council.  I am grateful for her energy and guidance about using the proper materials for an exterior mural.  It even has UV protection now, so no sunburns!

George and Justin putting on the finishing touches.
George and Justin putting on the finishing touches.

Please join me for a party on Wednesday June 24, 2015 to celebrate and rededicate the mural.   We will convene right under the mural from 5 to 7 for some live jazz by saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase, food from the East Coast Grill, and good company!

The Bluefish is Good Tonight will be looking good for another twenty+ years!!
The Bluefish is Good Tonight will be looking good for another twenty+ years!!

Printmaking, Studio Life

Big Print Day, International Style

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Since 2007, the Monterey Peninsula College printmakers have devoted the first Saturday in May to printmaking. What began in the Monterey Bay Area of California has become a worldwide event, with printmakers participating from over a dozen countries, on five continents. We didn’t even know this as we planned to print fifteen large (24″ X 36″) linoleum blocks at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA on May 2nd, 2015.  A class taught by Julia Talcott was culminating in a Big Print Day where we were using a steamroller as a printing press.  And we were accidentally part of an international day devoted to printmaking! 20150502_103856 My two prints were designed as an homage to Audubon’s large-scale bird paintings.  One is a wading bird and the other is a flying bird where the wingspan fills the three-foot length of the linoleum block.  The backgrounds of the two prints are filled with swirls and patterns and circles and stars and comets.1gYXnp1WBhWMAE7ZLxMwm2ncGr_zI8Bf_2zHQRuOxXQ 20150502_154825

Fifteen artists worked together rolling out ink and wrangling huge sheets of paper and cleaning all of the blocks and rollers over and over throughout the day.  All thirty prints that we made on May 2nd were big and bold and black and white.

Many of our prints drying in the wind on Big Print Day.
Many of our prints drying in the wind on Big Print Day.

We also printed a Charles River Alphabet organized by Leslie Evans, with 26 artists participating.  We each chose a letter and created an image of something associated with the Charles River.

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My letter is  Z for zooplankton

The alphabet is 90″ X  30″ and we printed it on both paper and fabric.

The individual prints from the alphabet are available for $30 each at the shop at the Arsenal Center for the Arts.