ART Playbook ART Playbook - Summer 2014 - Premier Issue | Page 8

8 | Wine, Women and a Paintbrush - Art Playbook

Style &
Inspiration
Alisa Burke is an accomplished artist, author, busy wife and mother with a
very hip sense of style and a desire to redefine creativity. We love that!
Alisa Burke has been "on our radar" for many years and for many
reasons.
Her "street"-influenced
style, bright colors, inovative use of
materials and a bent for recycling
are just a start. Add to that that
she juggles life as a mom, wife, teacher, author and artist who looks for
opportunities to collaborate and for
ways to bring creativity into everyday life, and you have our attention!
We chose her work as the inspiration for this issue's project and so we
wanted to ask Alisa to share some
thoughts about living life with creativity at the centre.

How long have you been creating?

I am the product of wonderful parents who were self-employed artists. Thankfully they recognized my
abilities and interest in art and supported my creative goals at an early
age — so early, in fact, that I cannot
remember life without art. By about
the age of 7, it was pretty clear that
when I grew up I wanted to be an
artist and my parents supported this
endeavor for my entire life. By the
time high school hit, I had already
been selling and showing my work
and my identity was wrapped up in
being "that quiet girl that made art".
I went on to college to study painting
and printmaking, grew my creative
resume, continued showing my work

and bounced from one creative job to
another. Insert 15 more years of juggling a day job with making, selling
art and teaching workshops and here
I am today working for myself as an
artist and author.
The process of creating and carving
out time to make art is so ingrained
in who I am that it has become a
ritual and process that I cannot live
without- it is a little like breathing.
I need to make art every day and
this need overpowers any time con-

straints, self doubt or laziness that
might creep into my life.

We've noticed that you've been
collaborating with your daughter
and now your husband, what has
inspired you to do that? And what
are the benefits thus far?
My husband Andy and I have been
collaborating for quite a few years
now and with Lucy now in the mix,
the entire process of creating together has really felt organic and natural

Layers of Patterns

Alisa starts many of her projects with canvases
filled with luscious color and patterns