LISA GOREN

All Polar and frozen landscapes are dominated by an absence. In this absence I am inspired by the clarity I have seen in my travels to both poles. Every watercolor I paint is an exploration of the absence and the clarity created in a frozen world.

As a watercolorist, I work with the transitory nature of water. Of course ice melts, but some of my subjects include ice that is thousands of years old. In all of my paintings, the background noise of global warming is present making even superstructures vulnerable. The balance of fragility and strength of frozen worlds mirrors the balance between water and ice. I paint very wet, using the water as my partner to spread and mix the colors.

In addition to my travels, I have also been studying watercolorists and other painters who have used color very dramatically. This has led me to experimenting with different surfaces, techniques, and ways to exhibit my paintings. It is my mission to share the excitement that watercolors can produce.

In February of 2012, I was honored to be named as a member of the 2013 voyage of the Arctic Circle, an artist residency which takes place on a 100 yr.-old schooner, 500 miles from the North Pole.

“In Hot Pursuit of the Cold and Ice” – my full-page article about this residency in the High Arctic, was published in the New York Times on March 2015. (http://nyti.ms/1PA05mr)

I had two pieces in “Gaia - Les femmes et l'ecologie” in Paris to coincide with the COP21 Climate talks. My Google Talk (http://bit.ly/lisagorengoogle) gave me a chance to share my story about traveling and creating work focused on the Polar regions.

During the Pandemic, I have been working on smaller paintings of Animals Taking Over (Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnimalsTakingOver) as well as portraits of health care workers (chosen to be in The Best Art Created by Washington Post Readers During the Pandemic by Washington Post).

Vice President, National Association of Women Artists, Massachusetts Chapter

South Shore Art Center Gallery Artist