MendocinoArts - Mendocino Art Center

Ancient Medium,
Modern Sensibility
By Michael Potts
Lisa orselli fires up her torch
and points the hot blue flame at her latest
work. “Fuse it or lose it,” she murmurs. A
shimmer of liquidity passes across the waxy
surface, and the power of the medium becomes clear. Lisa
digs down through the beeswax, chips of wax flying, to reveal
colors from below, then re-torches to smooth and blend.
“In ‘regular life’ I plan,” Lisa confesses, “but with encaustics,
I can challenge myself to make jumps and see what
happens. Meditation, part of my yoga practice, has taught
me to see the space between myself and my thoughts, and
that helps me keep the critical voice at bay as I work.”
Art entered Lisa’s life in ninth
grade. “My best friend and I had
a wonderful teacher who encouraged
experimentation with blind
contour drawing [sketching without
looking at the paper], collage…
I was drawn into the practice
of making art, right up until
my work became ‘not right’ during
life drawing class in college.”
Art faded behind life, and Lisa
came away from University of the
Pacific with a degree in English.
In her twenties, she began her
life-long practice of yoga.
“I found my art again when
Before and After, 12"x12", encaustic on panel with
encising. Above left: Red Cosmos, 12"x12", panel,
encaustic and paper.
my kids were in junior high. I took a class at CCAC from
another wonderful teacher, Liz Sher. She told us not to
erase and never let us crumple, but urged us to try to do
more with whatever wasn’t working, to resolve it out of
chaos.
“In 1990, when my daughter was 17, she and I went to
study in Florence for half a year, she at the American High
School, and I at the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute. When
I found the painting class full, I decided to study printmaking
in a studio once used (we were told) by Donatello
with another wonderful teacher,” Peruvian born Lucy
Jochamowitz. “She taught us to embrace our mistakes,”
Lisa reminisces. “I discovered that
print-making, scratching through
shellac onto a metal sheet, enhances
otherwise sketchy drawing skills.”
Back in the U.S. with a new medium
to explore, Lisa completed her
BFA at CCAC and joined a group
of artists sharing gallery space. She
continued to visit Mendocino for
classes at the Art Center, where
she enjoyed staying in and walking
the village while immersing
herself in art. When her husband
retired in 1997, they relocated. “I
felt uprooted,” Lisa remembers.
“I had to leave my press behind,
8 Mendocino Arts Magazine
Larry Wagner photos.