Today we’d like to introduce you to Tilly Strauss.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My life is a journey. As a military brat, I grew up all around the world, from the NE USA to far east Asia and the Caribbean Sea. My mother used art and office supplies as her tools for taming her three kids. I sold my first painting at age 5 in a show in Malaysia.
I was taught by aunts and uncles and influenced by the circles of my grandparents. My direct lineage goes back through curators, writers, and artists to Lucas Cranach in the 1500’s, so Art has always been a language in our family. When I was in high school I was not the best artist in my classes, but I worked hard, earned B’s and developed a discipline that serves me today. After college in Boulder, I moved to a farm in New York where I painted and raised chickens, turkeys, and two wild sons. I also started teaching painting to teenagers at a neighboring school. Teaching art is really inspiring and seems to be a way for me to give back to my community, wherever I am. It was a teaching job in Miami that brought me here eight years ago. My boys are grown, so I was able to pack light. In Miami I am in love with the tropical foliage of my childhood, the diversity of the cultures all packed together and having one of the best international airports close by
Please tell us about your art.
I learned early to listen for the Muse and paint a semblance of my truth, taking the personal and making it ambiguous enough to be universal. I paint in a daily discipline that, by its serial nature, reflects a story. Storytelling is something humans crave and what I need to do. Sometimes I don’t even know the story until 2-3 years have passed. Then, I look back at the work, and it becomes clear after the fact. “Oh! That’s what that was about”. So reflecting on my older series can be the most personally rewarding and inspiring. The process of painting can be like lucid dreaming for me. When I paint daily its almost a cinematic/filmic result. No matter if I am only exploring the color orange, or focusing on themes of Florida, or sitting next to a terminally ill friend, the work builds on the scaffold of the previous day’s output and prepares a bed for tomorrows project. It is a meditation on Time. My favorite procedure is to launch a 40-day practice. If we do anything for 40 days, (pray in the wilderness, launch an arc, exercise, etc.), we emerge transformed. This way of painting practice has helped me process the most difficult times of my life and has encouraged digestion of joyous moments as well.
Blogging since 2006, I have been spending more time the last few years on the craft of writing in order to produce small books of both art and text. In this way, my art can travel easily, be seen in a time capsule space, and be much enjoyed, affordably, by many.
What do you think about the conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
There are some great opportunities for artists today with the internet. I think more people are living as artists and finding ways to patch together incomes. The hardest thing today is covering the cost of healthcare. Any medical coverage is a huge expense and without it can completely sabotage/ gamble away a life’s dream career.
Miami does a lot to support artists and to get work shown. The Miami Parking Authority had us painting meters in Wynwood. The Miami-Dade Superintendent of Education has educators shows of student and teacher work. Every hotel on South beach seems to offer a willing wall. Miami is cultured enough to know having an artist live painting at a public event draws a crowd. It is a city of parties and entertainment.
The trick is for artists to get together and support each other. Everyone I know seems to feel isolated in their own art world. They need time and place to connect and inspire each other. In Miami the number one hurdle for that, in my opinion, is transportation. Traffic here is a mess. The metro only goes in one line. The bus stops have terrible signage. It is hard to get to South Beach. The highways are crammed. It is hard to attend evening art openings. It is easier to just stay home.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
A sampling of my work is always on my website www.tillystudio.com, and I write a blog about painting, showing and teaching on Showing up for the Muse at tillystudio.blogspot.com.
Recently I joined with several awesome Miami artists to launch an online gallery www.artsy.net/flow-305 where I show the paintings that blow my own mind… meaning I don’t know how I did them… I definitely had help from some other source. The Muse is real! Also online, I have many paintings available to be printed as hot merchandise on Fine Art America. Friends have bought tote bags, note cards, and pillows and been really happy.
Locally, I painted my second parking meter for the Miami Parking Authority this year. It used to be on NE Second Ave and 29th, but it has been moved! Rumor has it that it is somewhere near the Arscht center, but I haven’t seen it again yet. Please let me know if you find it!
Also, I have a studio with other artists at the ART HOUSE in the Falls warehouse district SW 129th street. I will be hosting an annual end of school year sale of small unframed works in early May.
And the poet Su Smallen love’s book, Weight Of Light, a Pushcart Prize Editors’ Book Award Nominee, is being published this May by Green Writers Press, with a painting of mine on the cover.
Contact Info:
- Address: [email protected] HOUSE STUDIO 8893 SW 129th St, Miami, FL 33157
- Website: www.tillystudio.com
- Phone: 845-489-3264
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: tillystrauss
- Twitter: elizabeth strauss @tillystudio
- Other: www.artsy.net/flow-305
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
