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Liese Chavez is a professional artist whose surreal narratives are primarily executed with oil paint on board.
Follow her on Instagram or Facebook When I was small, I remember lying on my back under a side table in my Grandparents' house. The tabletop was a round slab of marble, out of which grew a lamp with lead crystal teardrops dangling from a filigree bloom. There was a circlet of these crystals beneath the lamp as well and I watched the front parlor glow in the half-light reflected from these tiny worlds of faceted glass. In that private world just a few inches from the floor, the chairs all had carved feet on the bottom and way above me near the ceiling I could see the undersides of little animal faces in the corners of the moldings. I would climb up the steep stairs to the dusty attic with crates of 45 records and the secret-seeming low doors to mysterious things in storage in the eaves. Sometimes I would hide myself in the tiny sewing room under the stairs or spend hours pawing through Grammy’s costume jewelry, trying on clip-on earrings and peeking into lockets. One day I came into my grandparents’ house and everything looked different. The tiny details were still there, but I was too tall to see them so intimately anymore. Some of the magic had disappeared. I have been trying to get back to that magical world ever since.
This is where my heart is home. These paintings and drawings hold all the nostalgia and strange faces of my past. As a child I wanted to know what was inside, what was under, what was behind things. I still do. Climb the steep attic stairs with me, let the smell of old faded minks tickle your nose and peek with me up onto the high shelf filled with hatboxes and secrets… Raised in Massachusetts but a Colorado transplant since 2000, Liese Chavez’s artwork still carries some of the flavor of the East Coast. A Victorian aesthetic and dry humor will always remind her of home.Liese believes that we have more in common than we realize and that each painting has the potential to reflect back to the viewer a valuable part of their history. As a result of her strong desire to make her characters more sensitive she has been studying some of the oldest techniques for painting luminous skin such as the Venetian layering technique in oil. Her art education has been achieved through dedicated study of art textbooks and videos combined with daily practice.
The people that Liese paints have inscrutable expressions, in part because they usually reflect a private moment. When we are with ourselves we do not “put on a face” for our own benefit-we are just present, pretending nothing. Sharing the things that make life magical, funny and wondrous is her greatest desire and she hopes you will enjoy the journey. A peek inside the studio. |
Awards
Colorado Springs Independent Best Artist 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.
Recent Articles:
ColoradoSprings Gazette: Magical Feminism Denver Westword: still life from a different perspective Selected Shows: -Nanny Goat Gallery - Good and Evil - Sept 2024 -Chavez Gallery - Various shows from 2014 to 2021 -Chavez Gallery Grand Opening - April, 2014 -Group Show- “Muses of Mount Helikon” Oct/Nov 2013- Helikon Gallery, Denver, CO -Solo Exhibit-"Small Works" July 2013, Funky Caravan- Old Colorado City, CO -Solo Exhibit- April 2013, Green Horse Gallery- Manitou Springs, CO -“Intimate Views – Interiors & Still Lifes”-May 2012, Arts at Denver, Denver, CO -21st Anniversary Show-April 2012, Arts at Denver, Denver, CO -Solo Exhibit – March 2012, Cultural Office of the Pike’s Peak Region-Colorado Springs, CO -Solo Exhibit – January 2012, Swirl, Manitou Springs, CO -Solo Exhibit –“The Many Faces of Liese Chavez” October 2011, Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO -Solo Exhibit – “Fairytales, Fables and Flights of Fancy” June 2011, Domino, Old Colorado City, CO -Spring Show – April 2011, Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO -Chocolate and Champagne Show – February 2011, Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO -8th Anniversary Show –November 2010, Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO -Solo Show – “Ephemeral Icons” September 2010, Swirl, Manitou Springs, CO -Solo Show –“Secrets” May 2010, Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO -Solo Show – “Deadpan” April 2010, Swirl, Manitou Springs, CO -Spring Show –April 2010, Mountain Living Studio, Manitou Springs, CO -Painted Violin Gala with Denver Young Artist’s Orchestra – April 2010, Mariott Denver Tech Center, Denver, CO -EventGallery 910 Arts-Painted Violin exhibit with DYAO – March 2010, Denver, CO -Brushstrokes Gallery-Painted Violin exhibit with DYAO – February 2010, Denver, CO -Brushstrokes Gallery-Painted Violin exhibit with DYAO – February 2010, Denver, CO -Rialto Cafe-Painted Violin exhibit with DYAO – Oct 2009, Denver, CO -Masters Gallery-Painted Violin exhibit with DYAO – December 2009, Denver, CO |