ME
I AM A MIXED MEDIA ARTIST, EDUCATOR AND ENTREPRENEUR LIVING IN PORTLAND OREGON. MY WORK IS BASED ON QUIET STORIES, FAMILIAR ONES FOR MANY; HOME, STILL LIFE, AND THE INTROSPECTION THAT COMES FROM A LIFE WELL LIVED PONDERING THE UNIVERSE!
IT’S NEVER TO LATE TO BEGIN
It took the world shutting down and a deep soul search for me to end up here. After more than 15 years of teaching art to children and running a thriving small business, I found myself with a few moments, and an urge to express myself in a different way than I had been running a creative business. So here we go.
Little obsessions… I have always loved interiors, textiles, old pottery, aged wood, gardens, family, dogs, entertaining, cooking and of course art of all kinds. Here I show a culmination of these interests expressed through acrylic, oil, charcoal, pastel and collage.
Ilse is a self-taught artist residing in Portland Oregon with her family and two curious yellow labs. The daughter of artist parents she grew up immersed in the arts in the 60’s and 70’s in Northern California. A creative entrepreneur, former children’s art studio owner and designer, Ilse is now focused on a personal art practice. Working in drawing, painting and collage, her aesthetic is simple and raw, with flat images inked on wet paper or embossed, cut and collaged on wood. Tribal pattern, both inspired and imagined often fill a painting while the subjects of still life and figures in repose seem to invite you into their story. Inspiration comes from life, reflecting a time of “holding on” to home, to children who have grown, to the quietness of change, to the grieving and celebrating of aging and what this means. The fruit that represents the womb and the tables laden with food waiting for family to return. A time of reflection, both looking back as well as being present and still, in contemplation of a beautiful life well lived.