Artist Spotlight: Maryse Lörtscher

Mosaic Series, March 2014, watercolor, collage, ink, pencils by Maryse Lörtscher 

January 2015

Recently I was able to connect with Maryse Lörtscher, someone who lived in Senegal when I first arrived.  I did not get to know her there but friends connected us in Ghana.   Like me, Maryse is a world traveler.  She has lived in Mali, Haiti, Oman, Senegal, Indonesia, Egypt as well the United States where she will be moving shortly.
Marsyse studied biochemistry in her early years and later studied art, first obtaining a BFA in printmaking/drawing then an MFA in painting.  Her printmaking background predisposes her to create a lot of series on a theme.


detail

I discussed with her some of her thoughts behind her artwork.  She reflected that her interests studying biology and chemistry early on perhaps explain how her work evolves to sometimes microcosmic renditions.  She also mentioned that her mixed media- collages and painting- derive from the interest in "shadowing the information", something is erased and to writing that she refers to as asemic writing or pseudo writing.  She explained 'My work refers to altered communication.  You can see ghost images through and then make connections between the marks, symbols, images and text.  Trace of memories and events in my life.'
 

detail

Collaged images layer in combination with paint and the psydocalligraphy to peek through.  Those collaged elements come from museum pamphlets acquired from all over the world, her late father's stamp collection and magazines collected during her travels.  Many of her works have a strong fiber or fabric element as well.  She mentioned that quilters frequently pin her work on Pinterest as inspiration.  Color play is also a strong mark of her work.

The painting below, Writing on the Wall, symbolizes the signs of events to come, good and bad.  Many of her works are stories and expressions of her internal musings.  Maryse, however, prefers viewers to tell their own stories when looking at her work.  She says 'I don't consider my interpretation of my work to be the best.  My work is not there to pass on a message.'


Writing on the Wall 2011

More of her work can be found on her Facebook page or her website.

You can also view many more works and follow her work on Pinterest. 

*note Maryse spells her surname alternate ways, Lortscher and Loertscher.

Writing on the Wall detail 2011

Writing on the Wall detail 2011

recent works on paper

watercolor, ink and collage

My Daughter's Art Card

My daughter came up with the idea of making an art card with many pages.  She had a vision of what she wanted this card to be.  She drew her shapes, colored some pieces in and directed me to place patterns using a limited set of colors in other areas. For some pages she cut out elements and arranged them in new ways.  It took us several hours but I am proud she persisted in her vision.  I hope you will enjoy her work as much as I did. Here are all seven pages in order.
I think her former art teacher, Jane Reiter may have had some influence on this project.