Today we’d like to introduce you to Alison Green.
Hi Alison, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We’re never too old to follow our creative passions. For many years, I worked as an art teacher at a leading college preparatory school in New Mexico. I loved taking teens on unique wilderness art-making trips to various locations in the desert Southwest. But, when I had the opportunity to take a year-long sabbatical from teaching in order to make my own art every day, I grabbed it. That was five years ago and it was life-altering.
For the first time ever, I didn’t have to work a job. I was single, in my fifties, my son had grown up and left home, and I was fired up and hungry to dive into painting. I had always made art, but it was always just squeezed in around the edges of my life in brief snippets of time. What was incredibly helpful was the daily, consistent focus and my stubborn desire to push my work further than I ever thought I could. My work developed and deepened, both technically and conceptually, and my identity as a legitimate artist solidified. I began exhibiting and selling my work and I kept an active studio practice after resuming my teaching job. Last year I finally decided to leave teaching in order to pursue my creative life full-time.
I moved from Albuquerque to Vancouver, British Columbia, but realized after six months that I really missed the sun and the desert, so I moved back to the Southwest. I’m living where my heart feels the most at home, in Springdale, Utah, at the entrance to Zion National Park. There’s no better place for natural beauty, artistic inspiration, outdoor adventures, and great people. In addition to making my own art, I plan to offer unique, nature-based art workshops that blend encaustic and mixed media processes.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Being an artist is neither smooth nor easy. There’s the classic lack of time while working and supporting a family. There’s the self-doubt and fear of not being good enough. There were many times at the beginning of my sabbatical when I sat in my studio talking to myself– “Just do the work.” With enough practice and consistency, entering the art flow and quieting the mind became easier and easier.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My paintings are primarily botanical abstractions using encaustic, oil paint, drawing and collage. I have a deep appreciation for the transformative power of both nature and art. I care about the connection we have with the land, and I look forward to exploring the rich and diverse ecosystems of southern Utah. My art explores the elegant interconnectivity of all living things. Plants, trees, birds, and natural forms have served as symbols and archetypes in the human imagination. The current disconnect between people and the natural world threatens the environment and climate, and it also threatens human wellness. Science has proven that spending time in nature can be deeply healing. Experiencing the flow state of the art is equally healing. My creative work strives to share the concept of Biophilia, the innate human love of nature, as described by biologist E.O. Wilson. If more people love and feel connected to nature, more people will care about conservation and biodiversity. More than ever, it’s time for artists and creatives to touch people’s hearts, to counteract the numbing consumerism that interferes with people’s connection to the land and wilderness.
In 2019 and 2020, I created solo exhibitions of encaustic paintings and installation elements. Confluence: PLANT/LIFE at Exhibit 208 Gallery in Albuquerque, had an installation of hundreds of plant seeds embedded in translucent mulberry paper disks dipped in wax. My show Biophilia: Our True Nature at the Harwood Art Center featured a large spiral of over one hundred pomegranates hanging from the gallery ceiling.
My current solo show “Love and Biophilia in the Desert” is installed at the Zion Canyon Community Center in Springdale Utah from May 24-June 24, 2022, with an Opening Reception on Friday, June 10, 5:00-6:30 pm.
Contact Info:
- Website: alisongreenartist.com
- Instagram: @alisongreenartist
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