Julie Houck began life as a traveler, moving several times for her father’s career. This pattern repeated itself in her later years. After attending art school, she became a highly sought-after commercial photographer who traversed the globe shooting for corporations. The accumulated miles, and the transition of photography from film to digital, motivated her to change her professional course after 20 years, and seek additional training in San Francisco and Paris. The worldwide landscape continues to inspire Julie’s art, although now she is now more likely to be exploring places by bike than by plane, near her studios located in Hawaii and Maine.
Alexandra Maurer is passionate about her work—both as an artist and an acupuncturist, two topics she is willing to explore deeply. In this episode of Radio Maine, she also touches upon the ideas of “fledging” one’s children, finding one’s voice, and embracing what Alexandra calls her maintenance phase. With her recent decision to join the Portland Art Gallery community, Alexandra has continued her commitment to creativity.
With her graduate degree in clinical psychology, artist Laurie Fisher has been trained to look for, and understand, the factors that fundamentally make us who we are, and who we might be. She has used these in her own creative development, as both a writer and an artist. Laurie speaks eloquently about her creative path, the uncertainties that plague most artists, and the joy of meeting advocates and supporters who have furthered her career and contributed to her artistic confidence. A relatively new addition to the artist roster at Portland Art Gallery, Laurie has had notable national art gallery representation for many years.
Emily Blaschke is an artist passionate about sustainability and is dedicated to breathing new life into discarded materials. Blaschke sources her materials from local swap shops, dumps, and thrift stores, and repurposes them into innovative, layered, and colorful mixed-media art objects. Even representational paintings that lack her usual mixed media elements are created with expired nail polish and leftover house paint.Blaschke is a natural bricoleur who uses mixed media to indulge her love of texture, color, and collage.