Artist of the Month January 2008

Lynn Basa

Chicago, IL

How and when did you start creating art?

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.

What media and genres do you work in?

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.

Who or what are your influences?

Organic, natural forms or accidental textures and shapes.

“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.

Describe your creative process?

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.

What are you working on currently?

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)

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

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

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

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.)