In the Studio with Mariella Bisson

Mariella Bisson, studio portrait by Franco Vogt

How has COVID-19 affected your working process?

During this difficult time of the Covid outbreak in America, I have been, as most of us have been, heartsick, anxiety-stricken and fiercely protective of the fragile loved ones in my life. As an artist -- and I may perhaps speak of many of us who are in the arts -- I see it as my responsibility to feel deeply. I think artists seek connection and we cherish the natural world and the designed world with great tenderness. Before Covid, when I was drawing landscapes in nature I would always analyze and measure — where is the form in space? where is the edge? what lines up with what? where is the horizon? Those were my questions then.

During Covid, my outlook has changed. Now I ask myself how did this happen? why has this rock fallen and that one is still embedded in the cliff? How can changes caused by natural forces become part of my composition? How can I imbue water, rock, forests with the love and longing I feel? How can I convey the beauty and poignancy of nature as a painter? I always spend a lot of time in the studio and I work as an artist full time, so my daily routines are the same. It is the quality of my attention that has changed. I am more consciously grateful for each day. Now I respond to the nature as if my very life depended on it.

About Mariella Bisson:

Mariella Bisson is a painter of nature's force and beauty. She makes paintings in mixed media on linen or on wood panel and works on paper in watercolor, collage, printmaking and drawing. Her outdoor paintings and drawings form the basis for large-scale paintings made in Studio Fenario, her creative space in Woodstock, NY. She is represented by art galleries and art consultants nationally. A solo show is being planned for the Fall of 2020 at Momentum Gallery in Asheville, NC. A future solo show to focus on her use of paper is in the planning stages. Her studio is designing a new book and if possible, a touring exhibition of drawings, prints, watercolor paintings and collages on paper alongside pairs of large mixed media works with preparatory drawings and field paintings.

www.mariellabisson.com

Red Rocks, As Above, So Below, 2015 Oil paint/mixed media on linen, 38 X 50 inches

Red Rocks, Blue Skies from Now On, 2015 Oil paint/mixed media on linen, 38 X 50 inches

Pedernal, When First We Met, 2016, Oil paint/mixed media on linen, 34 X 74 inches

Chimney Rock, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, 2016, Oil paint/mixed media on linen, 30 X 40 inches

Water Falling, Rocks Fallen, Monoprint, 2019, Monoprint on paper mounted to wood panel, 38 X 60” sealed with protective sealant. Brandon Graving, master printer at Gravity Experimental Print Shop in North Adams.

Waterfall Cliff, 2017, Oil paint/mixed media on linen, 60 X 38 inches