Artist of the Month

January 2008

Lynn Basa

Chicago, IL

TAL: How and when did you start creating art?

LB : When I was 5 or 6 years old I began to think of myself as an artist, except for a brief period in the third grade when I decided to be a paleontologist. I got over that, though, and my trajectory into committing myself to working in or around art has continued unabated to this day.

TAL: What media and genres do you work in?

LB : I was seriously committed to clay and fiber in my early years because I liked making “things”. That lead into public art, not just because that’s what my “day job” was in, but because I could express my aesthetic in a broader range of functional materials: glass mosaic, terrazzo, metal, etc. For my studio work I now paint exclusively and have given up clay and fiber. I started feeling restrained by the technical demands of those materials and now prefer the freedom of paint.

TAL: Who or what are your influences?

LB : Organic, natural forms or accidental textures and shapes.

TAL: What was your inspiration for "Grove"?

LB : “Grove” is a large mosaic I designed after winning a public art competition. The RFQ stated that they wanted something related literally to the history of the town, (Claremont, CA) but what I saw was a town that had five universities, a highly-educated, well-traveled populace, that was moving forward with the new art district the piece would be part of. So I did an abstract interpretation of looking through a grove of lemon trees, into the sunset, referencing Manifest Destiny.

TAL: Describe your creative process.

LB : When I’m doing studio work, i.e., just for myself, not for a specific public or private commission, I listen to a lot of world music and let the ideas flow. I look at weird natural geological formations and experiment a lot with paint. For the public work, I research the site and what the stakeholders’ vision is and try to interpret it through my aesthetic lens to make something that both their public and I can feel good about.

TAL: What are you working on currently?

LB : Two painting commissions, a rug commission, a mosaic sidewalk for Glendale, AZ, a 220’ diameter terrazzo floor for the new Indianapolis International Airport, my new book, “The Artist’s Guide to Public Art: How to Find and Win Commissions” (Allworth Press, March 2008)

TAL: What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

LB : To always be able to work for myself and create the type of art I want.

TAL: Where can people view/purchase your work?

LB : FLATFILEcontemporary in Chicago; Driscoll Robbins in Seattle; Soho Myriad in Atlanta and LA, and on my web site: www.lynnbasa.com. (I recently hired an assistant who is going to make new web sites for my artwork and books, as well as increase the number of galleries that I show in.)