Lisa Schonberg

Biography

Lisa Schonberg is a printmaking artist who explores the world of printmaking through a variety of processes including relief, intaglio, monoprinting, screenprinting and cyanotype work. Her subject matter and conceptual ideas are derived from an inquisitive observation of the natural world and the fascinating parallels that aspects in nature have with various conditions and stages in human life.

Lisa has an MFA in Printmaking from Kent State University and a BFA from Ohio University. Recently retired from teaching, her career includes teaching in public and private schools (K-12), local colleges and participating in several artists’ residencies and internships.

She has exhibited her work in juried, invitational and solo shows as well as local, regional and international galleries since 1984. Lisa has artwork in various collections such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cuyahoga County Headquarters, MetroHealth Center, Summa Health System, Cuyahoga Community College, Case Western Reserve University, the Ohio Arts Council, Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, MA, and the Grafikwerkstatt in Dresden, Germany as well as in various other corporate and private collections. She has also been a resident artist at Zygote Press in Cleveland for 14 years, where she prints and teaches.


Artist Statement

Our natural environment can be a source of peacefulness and mystery. What inspires me most is how nature can be instantly captivating and calming as well as full of excitement and surprises. Utilizing printmaking materials, techniques and the spontaneous development of imagery inherent in the making of monoprints, I channel my observations and enthusiasm into various multi-layered images.  These images are related to water reflections, wind currents, earth forms, shadows, foliage and other natural ephemera. The abstracted and patterned layers, colors and forms are meant to be celebratory reminders of the beauty and mystery that our natural world has to offer and how important it is to preserve and be mindful of this beauty for the benefit of all humanity. In addition, it is my belief that nature and art can have restorative value for the human spirit.  Living with art that we love is uplifting and can inspire us to think about topics beyond our everyday existence. Being among nature, contemplating its beauty and power can do the same thing. Nature can neutralize what is going on around us. The simple act of walking in the woods can diffuse some of the drama. Making art about nature does the same for me.  

My work presented here for the Western Wilds Collective Conference Open Portfolio is divided into four categories: The Sky/Water/Breathe and Sky/Water/Calm series is a meditative view of what, for me, provides solace and respite from the tumultuous times we live in. I relish in the simplicity of a clear sky, cool water, clean air and reflective visual forms. Using a large format and minimal fields of subtle blended cool color changes, I hope to engage the viewer toward achieving a heightened feeling of calm. This is one image I imagine, in my “mind’s eye”, when I need to destress. 

In the Botanical series I am printing real foliage and botanical materials sometimes in combination with hand cut stencils drawn from shadows. I utilize a pressure printing technique and the subsequent printing of “ghosts”, the ink left on the plate after the first print.  It is my intention to memorialize these items from my garden and the surrounding northeast Ohio woodlands as proof of existence, time, place and memory.  These prints have a dreamy, fuzzy quality as they are impressions once, twice and even three times printed and for me they symbolize the mystery, and fragility of our natural world. 

In 2020 during the shutdown, I experimented with the Cyanotype alternative photographic technique while isolating at home due to the Pandemic. The essence of blueness is produced in these prints that utilize light sensitive iron salt chemicals and sunlight; a simple and fascinating process. Items are placed on the chemically treated paper to block out the sun, and after exposure creates a white silhouette with a brilliant Prussian blue background. Sometimes variations in lighter blues are created depending on exposure time and other colors can be achieved with variations of the process.  The color blue is a color I have gravitated to all my life and symbolizes calm, peacefulness and stability. These prints precede the Sky/Water large format prints and were influential in my focusing on how the color blue and its infinite variations can make one feel.

My latest series is in the beginning stages.  I’ve been a collector of what I call Treasures all my life.  What some people call detritus I call a treasure. Whether it’s a piece of shell, seaweed, a pebble with unique striations, a mayfly wing or some object found on the ground or in shallow water that I cannot name, it all has value to me.  In this series abstract forms of shell parts and seaweed pieces are printed together with linear wind map images from laser etched plexi plates to create multicolored, multilayered monoprints.  This work records my interest in strange configurations in nature and is a way to move forward in joy and through the printing process, explore a new idea.

We live in a time of tremendous change which has altered our views of the world in many ways.  My work relates to the times we live in, yet in a non-literal, abstract way. Sometimes I create art as a coping mechanism and view art and nature as having tremendous restorative, cathartic powers. And sometimes I make art for play and to explore an idea. It’s my belief that in times of uncertainty and heightened anxiety, images about the natural world can elicit emotive and subjective experiences such as solace and feelings of hope. This potential human impact and connection is what keeps me making art.

Website: www.lisamschonberg.com

Instagram: @lisa.schonberg