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Lisa Occhipinti

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“Accessible sophistication, with form and function equally placed… .”

With each passing interview, I am amazed at the talent and drive out there—artists making names for themselves.  Today’s Fellow Weekend Designer is no exception.  Lisa Occhipinti is an artist, talented writer (you will love the beauty of her answers!), graphic designer, printmaker, and much much more.  Her interview is thoughtful; I think you will have found a new favorite Etsy shop before its done.  So, without further adieu, in her own words…

Did you grow up in Venice, California? What influence has your geographic lo cation had on your art? Do you find it relevant to your aesthetic? I grew up in New England and just recently relocated to Venice. Geography plays a huge role in all the work I create since it surrounds me. Colors, textures, architecture, all reshape thoughts and ideas. It's not that I'll start making an entirely new body but I absorb influences into my own vernacular. Right now I am in a flux of new ideas which I find completely invigorating, and is part of the reason I moved to the opposite coast! For instance my colors in my paintings have lightened and I have begun to include drawings of trees, plants and leaves that I photograph here in my neighborhood. Everything in life is relevant to my aesthetic, from visuals to sounds to tastes. Everything is fodder for my work.

What is the pivot of your fascination with print or the idea of text?  I am also a writer at heart (and have just finished my first book called on the subject of transforming books into new objects called “The Repurposed Library”), and so I adore words: spoken, written, sung. And the visual texture of text, I find to be very sensual. When it is incorporated into an art form the words become whispers. As you view the work, a single word or phrase may jump out at you as if for your eyes alone. That forms an intimate moment with the work.

 
I also am fascinated with the concrete, printed quality of text and letter forms and how I can merge it with the organic by manipulating its nature by bending, folding, or with paint, varnish, etc. That  relationship is crucial to my cause: wedding the graphic to the organic.

What better describes your artistic process: develop a vision and find material OR find the materials and develop a vision. Said perhaps a better way: Do you set out to make a particular piece or does the particular piece develop as you work?  Both. Sometimes I am struck with an idea  after seeing something (the color of the sky, a rusted spot on an old  convertible, reading a passage in a book) and that begets a piece. Sometimes I see an object or material and it tells me exactly what it needs to become. I never want to inhibit myself so I allow all things at all times.

From who or what experience do you develop your inspiration? How have you seen that source or influence change over time? How has your style or work changed over time?  I am inspired by life, colorations around me, surface qualities and ideas. How they fit into the notion of elegance and relay a sense of history is what moves me. My style hasn’t really changed so much as shifted slightly from the things I learn. I never want to stop improving my work and the ways in which I express my ideas. I am especially influenced by masters like Anton Tapies, Alberto Burri, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Agnes Martin.

 

Describe your wardrobe and your home. Simple, organic, and unadorned? Stately, refined, and mature? Quirky, whimsical, and unpredictable? etc.
My tastes are eclectic yet bookended by modernity. I am enamored with most things designed and produced between 1920 and 1960, clothes, furniture, cars, homes etc. Accessible sophistication, with form and function equally placed, would be my tag line. My personal look I suppose would best be described as a Bohemian Jackie O/Audrey Hepburn. And I do ride my bicycle in heels!

Lastly, how on earth do you keep up with being a writer, artist, print maker, graphic designer, blogger and business owner?! Simple. It is my life and I love it all!

You must visit her Etsy shop, website, and blog.  Become more “acquinted” with Lisa.  You’ll enjoy every page!