Interview With
Lisa Kovvuri
Fine Art
(603) 397-0703
[email protected]
Beyond Appearances
LEAVING SHADOWS
Oil on wood
18 x 18
Available
$4,200.00 USD
Oil on wood
18 x 18
Available
$4,200.00 USD
SUNDAY MORNING
Oil on Aluminum
14 x 18
Sold
Oil on Aluminum
14 x 18
Sold
ELEMENTS
Oil on Aluminum
24 x 20
Available
Oil on Aluminum
24 x 20
Available
Lisa Kovvuri is an American figurative painter working in Southern New Hampshire. Her work uses the genre of portraiture to explore the psychology and emotions we live and move through every day, with a goal of creating a compelling, personal, and intimate experience, both visually and emotionally, with the human presence in her paintings.
BLUE
Oil on wood
12 x 16
Available
$3,000.00 USD
Oil on wood
12 x 16
Available
$3,000.00 USD
Born in Oakland, CA and raised on Cape Cod, MA, she received a BFA in printmaking from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1991. When her interest later turned to oil painting, she sought additional training from highly skilled master artists in the fields of realism, figurative and portrait painting. Particularly formative for her artistic development were an intensive painting course with Nelson Shanks at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia, PA, and a four-and-a-half-year term of study with ARC Master Mary Minifie at Ingbretson Studios in Manchester, NH where she learned the traditional methods of the Boston School.
Lisa's commissioned works can be found in the collections of numerous clients, private and corporate, across New England and the Western US coast. Her 2017 solo exhibition, The Portrait Experience was held at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA. She was a resident studio artist at the museum from 2014 to 2019 where she also taught drawing, painting, and printmaking classes in the museum’s Youth Summer Art Program.
The recipient of several national awards, Lisa’s work has been featured in American Art Collector, Southwest Art, and Artscope Magazines, the Portrait Society of America’s quarterly journal, The Art of the Portrait, The Art Renewal Center’s catalogue International Realism, and has been exhibited in exhibitions and competitions nationwide. She is a member of The Portrait Society of America, Oil Painters of America, The National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and American Women Artists.
Lisa's commissioned works can be found in the collections of numerous clients, private and corporate, across New England and the Western US coast. Her 2017 solo exhibition, The Portrait Experience was held at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA. She was a resident studio artist at the museum from 2014 to 2019 where she also taught drawing, painting, and printmaking classes in the museum’s Youth Summer Art Program.
The recipient of several national awards, Lisa’s work has been featured in American Art Collector, Southwest Art, and Artscope Magazines, the Portrait Society of America’s quarterly journal, The Art of the Portrait, The Art Renewal Center’s catalogue International Realism, and has been exhibited in exhibitions and competitions nationwide. She is a member of The Portrait Society of America, Oil Painters of America, The National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and American Women Artists.
Portraits
PORTRAIT OF LORIN
Oil on Aluminum
30 x 20
Sold
Oil on Aluminum
30 x 20
Sold
MARYANN
Oil on wood
20 x 16
Sold
Oil on wood
20 x 16
Sold
Small Works
AKHILA
Oil on Pane
l6 x 9
Available
$650.00 USD
Oil on Pane
l6 x 9
Available
$650.00 USD
Interview With Lisa Kovurri
TNYO: Lisa, I was just looking into your work and your bio.
Your history as an artist is amazing on several levels, born in California raised in Cape Cod, schooled in Cleveland, New Hampshire, and Philadelphia. Can you tell us about your journey in art academia?
Lisa Kovvuri: I studied printmaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art and have a BFA from there. After graduating, getting married and starting a family, I didn’t have access to a print shop where we lived so I started painting. I began with watercolor because it didn’t require solvents and was relatively safe around kids. It also seemed like the next best thing to printmaking in that I was working on paper, utilizing the white of the paper and building images with layers of transparent color.
I started using oil when I joined a weekly figure painting group after we moved to Sacramento. When I brought oil paints to that figure group something clicked, and I realized figure painting was what I really wanted to do. The problem was that I already had a degree, not to mention two very young children to care for. It wasn’t feasible to go back to school at that point, and there was not the plethora of ateliers or on-line learning options around then that we have the luxury of today. There was no place to study traditional figure painting in my area, so I began to teach myself, painting portraits and still life.
In 2005 we moved to India and lived there for a year. When we returned to the US, we settled on the east coast. That was when I had an opportunity to go to Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia. I attended their intensive summer painting course, and that was pretty much figure painting bootcamp heaven! I soaked up everything I could from that experience. Later I took workshops from time to time when I could manage, and then met master portrait artist Mary Minifie. I studied with her for four and a half years, learning the Boston School method of portrait painting, which emphasizes an impressionistic approach to classical drawing and painting from life.
TNYO: May I ask where your family originates from?
Lisa Kovvuri: From New England. Mostly Cape Cod and Maine, although my mother’s ancestry is French Canadian. My husband is from South India, which is where the name Kovvuri comes from.
TNYO: Have you been creating art since childhood and does your experiences within your environment, upbringing, family, friends, influence or direct your current work as an artist?
Lisa Kovvuri: When I was a young child I found an intriguing looking case, like an old fashioned, oversized briefcase belonging to my father, underneath my parent’s bed.
My dad worked as a marine mechanic at a place called Goose Hummock Marine in Orleans. But he also used to build sailboats, catboats to be precise. He always had a boat project going on in our basement. I often spent time with him down there while he was working, watching how he carefully crafted each of the parts, steaming wooden beams to bend them along the curve of the hull, laying fiberglass, sanding, varnishing, etc. It was a labor of love for him.
But inside the case under his bed were art supplies! There were oil paints, brushes, palette knives, charcoal, etc., and pads full of sketches he’d done of boats and shorelines, and paintings of sunsets done with a palette knife. There was also an assortment of “how to draw” books on these subjects.
The case had been tucked away there probably since before I was born. Apparently, he had always been interested in art but didn’t pursue it because he didn’t think it could earn him enough income to support a family. I was so captivated by these treasures I had found; my dad decided to give them to me. I began experimenting and never stopped.
Regarding experiences in my upbringing that may influence my current work, I think I can trace it to high school. When I was a senior my grandmother discovered that a local travel agent had connected with my ancient history teacher to lead a tour through Egypt. She and my parents pooled their resources to include me. It was my graduation gift, and the experience changed me forever. I had never really left Cape Cod before that, other than to visit relatives out of state. It opened my eyes to the world in a way I never could have imagined before. I was fascinated by the culture, how people could be so different, and things so ancient. I felt displaced. Nothing was familiar, and I loved it. There was something to discover and learn everywhere I looked and from everyone I met. After that I started reading about cultural anthropology, psychology, and different religions. In college I forged friendships with many international students, and even ended up marrying one!
This passion for people has been a driving force in my work ever since. Portraits have become the genre through which I can express my love and fascination for my fellow human beings, explore what makes us tick emotionally, and cultivate empathy and connection.
TNYO: Initially your studies began in printmaking. Do you still work with these techniques?
Lisa Kovvuri: Other than teaching printmaking in the Youth Summer Art Program at the Whistler House Museum, I haven’t made any personal prints of my own since I started painting, probably about 20 years ago now. But recently I’ve found myself going back to ideas I was interested in as a printmaker and adapting them to painting.
I loved working with textures in my prints. I used a lot of soft ground techniques (a ground which doesn’t harden). Because it stays soft and pliable, you can press things into it and create texture. Those textures can then be etched on the plate. I often worked back into the plate with my tools after etching, to scrape, burnish or add drypoint lines with the needle.
With some of the paintings in my recent series Beyond Appearances, I’ve been exploring textures in a similar way. I lay down paint, scrub, dab, slather it on with a knife, (I’ve even rolled it on with an ink brayer in the piece I’m working on now). Then I work back into it, or let it dry for a few days, then go back in with more paint, or glaze, scumble, or scrape paint away. I love the idea of layers and being able to see through them, how they give dimension to the surface when examined up close. I’ve also been painting on aluminum panels and really love them. The people at Artefex, a company I’ve purchased them from recently sent me a little copper panel to try. I’m excited to see what I can do with it!
TNYO: Where is your current studio?
Lisa Kovurri: I have a studio in my home in New Hampshire.
TNYO: Your subjects tell a wonderful story. Each painting has an aura - a spirit, can you tell us what goes into a sitting session with your models?
Lisa Kovvuri: I take a ton of photos, the more the better, when I have a session with a model. I like to have a variety of expressions and poses to work with. The camera is kind of like a sketchbook, recording things for me that I can then go back and expand upon in the studio. There’s often a subtle nuance of just the right expression I can capture with a camera that may otherwise be fleeting and lost if I were painting it from life. My subject, what interests me the most is the expression and the emotion it inspires, the human element more than the visual impression or effect of light. These are of course important and useful tools, but they’re used to serve a different goal rather than be the end goal in themselves. I like having the time and freedom to invent and elaborate on the particulars that inspired me, really home in on the nuances, surfaces and details, to create the kind of intimate experience of human presence I’m after.
TNYO: The Palette, Do you work with an exact grouping of colors making up your color palette?
Lisa Kovvuri: I have a base group of about 8 colors that are usually always on my palette and they include a warm and cool and chromatic and neutral version of each of the primaries. I may change some of them around now and then or add more for a particular painting when called for, but for the most part I like to keep it pretty simple.
TNYO: What is your favorite color?
Lisa Kovvuri: It depends on what day it is . There are so many beautiful colors.
TNYO: If you were not an artist what would you be?
Lisa Kovvuri: An anthropologist or archaeologist
TNYO: :Do you have other hobbies or maybe things that you love to do?
Lisa Kovvuri: I love walking, being outside and absorbing the beauty and mood of the nature around me, especially in the woods and on hiking trails. I also love exploring cities on foot, and of course, travelling.
TNYO: What is your take on the sale of art, through galleries, direct and the world of collecting art?
Lisa Kovvuri: I think it’s wonderful that the internet has created a place for artists to essentially have their own home base and storefront to share and sell their work through. It has also opened opportunities for collectors, and art lovers to become collectors without the intimidation they sometimes feel going into high end galleries. I know people enjoy being able to personally connect with the artists whose work they love. It’s not always easy for artists to find a gallery when starting out, so it helps to have a place where you can do something for yourself until you can find a good one. There are some artists who find they do very well this way and decide they don’t need a gallery.
For quite some time most of my work was commissioned, and I was lucky that my own advertising and word of mouth served me well enough to keep me busy. But recently I’ve scaled back on taking commissions so I can work on my new series. I’ve entered a partnership with a gallery to exhibit and help sell these works, and I’m grateful to have their support. The reason we make art is because we have something meaningful to communicate and share. It’s important that the people who it will resonate for and speak to can find it and have access to it. As artists, we continually work to make that happen in whatever form works best.
TNYO: Is music important to you, do you listen to music when you work, and can you pick a favorite song that you love for our readers to listen to?
Lisa Kovvuri: That’s difficult because I love many different kinds. Both of my sons are musicians and have introduced me quite a lot of music I never thought I would enjoy, but I do! I like a lot of Jazz and fusion, Snarky Puppy comes to mind, who I’ve seen live a few times and are quite amazing. What I listen to depends on my mood, really. Though when I’m working, I prefer to stream meditation music playlists or something similarly peaceful and continuous I can find on YouTube. I like something that maintains the right mood yet doesn’t distract me from getting lost in the flow.
TNYO: Lisa, I was just looking into your work and your bio.
Your history as an artist is amazing on several levels, born in California raised in Cape Cod, schooled in Cleveland, New Hampshire, and Philadelphia. Can you tell us about your journey in art academia?
Lisa Kovvuri: I studied printmaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art and have a BFA from there. After graduating, getting married and starting a family, I didn’t have access to a print shop where we lived so I started painting. I began with watercolor because it didn’t require solvents and was relatively safe around kids. It also seemed like the next best thing to printmaking in that I was working on paper, utilizing the white of the paper and building images with layers of transparent color.
I started using oil when I joined a weekly figure painting group after we moved to Sacramento. When I brought oil paints to that figure group something clicked, and I realized figure painting was what I really wanted to do. The problem was that I already had a degree, not to mention two very young children to care for. It wasn’t feasible to go back to school at that point, and there was not the plethora of ateliers or on-line learning options around then that we have the luxury of today. There was no place to study traditional figure painting in my area, so I began to teach myself, painting portraits and still life.
In 2005 we moved to India and lived there for a year. When we returned to the US, we settled on the east coast. That was when I had an opportunity to go to Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia. I attended their intensive summer painting course, and that was pretty much figure painting bootcamp heaven! I soaked up everything I could from that experience. Later I took workshops from time to time when I could manage, and then met master portrait artist Mary Minifie. I studied with her for four and a half years, learning the Boston School method of portrait painting, which emphasizes an impressionistic approach to classical drawing and painting from life.
TNYO: May I ask where your family originates from?
Lisa Kovvuri: From New England. Mostly Cape Cod and Maine, although my mother’s ancestry is French Canadian. My husband is from South India, which is where the name Kovvuri comes from.
TNYO: Have you been creating art since childhood and does your experiences within your environment, upbringing, family, friends, influence or direct your current work as an artist?
Lisa Kovvuri: When I was a young child I found an intriguing looking case, like an old fashioned, oversized briefcase belonging to my father, underneath my parent’s bed.
My dad worked as a marine mechanic at a place called Goose Hummock Marine in Orleans. But he also used to build sailboats, catboats to be precise. He always had a boat project going on in our basement. I often spent time with him down there while he was working, watching how he carefully crafted each of the parts, steaming wooden beams to bend them along the curve of the hull, laying fiberglass, sanding, varnishing, etc. It was a labor of love for him.
But inside the case under his bed were art supplies! There were oil paints, brushes, palette knives, charcoal, etc., and pads full of sketches he’d done of boats and shorelines, and paintings of sunsets done with a palette knife. There was also an assortment of “how to draw” books on these subjects.
The case had been tucked away there probably since before I was born. Apparently, he had always been interested in art but didn’t pursue it because he didn’t think it could earn him enough income to support a family. I was so captivated by these treasures I had found; my dad decided to give them to me. I began experimenting and never stopped.
Regarding experiences in my upbringing that may influence my current work, I think I can trace it to high school. When I was a senior my grandmother discovered that a local travel agent had connected with my ancient history teacher to lead a tour through Egypt. She and my parents pooled their resources to include me. It was my graduation gift, and the experience changed me forever. I had never really left Cape Cod before that, other than to visit relatives out of state. It opened my eyes to the world in a way I never could have imagined before. I was fascinated by the culture, how people could be so different, and things so ancient. I felt displaced. Nothing was familiar, and I loved it. There was something to discover and learn everywhere I looked and from everyone I met. After that I started reading about cultural anthropology, psychology, and different religions. In college I forged friendships with many international students, and even ended up marrying one!
This passion for people has been a driving force in my work ever since. Portraits have become the genre through which I can express my love and fascination for my fellow human beings, explore what makes us tick emotionally, and cultivate empathy and connection.
TNYO: Initially your studies began in printmaking. Do you still work with these techniques?
Lisa Kovvuri: Other than teaching printmaking in the Youth Summer Art Program at the Whistler House Museum, I haven’t made any personal prints of my own since I started painting, probably about 20 years ago now. But recently I’ve found myself going back to ideas I was interested in as a printmaker and adapting them to painting.
I loved working with textures in my prints. I used a lot of soft ground techniques (a ground which doesn’t harden). Because it stays soft and pliable, you can press things into it and create texture. Those textures can then be etched on the plate. I often worked back into the plate with my tools after etching, to scrape, burnish or add drypoint lines with the needle.
With some of the paintings in my recent series Beyond Appearances, I’ve been exploring textures in a similar way. I lay down paint, scrub, dab, slather it on with a knife, (I’ve even rolled it on with an ink brayer in the piece I’m working on now). Then I work back into it, or let it dry for a few days, then go back in with more paint, or glaze, scumble, or scrape paint away. I love the idea of layers and being able to see through them, how they give dimension to the surface when examined up close. I’ve also been painting on aluminum panels and really love them. The people at Artefex, a company I’ve purchased them from recently sent me a little copper panel to try. I’m excited to see what I can do with it!
TNYO: Where is your current studio?
Lisa Kovurri: I have a studio in my home in New Hampshire.
TNYO: Your subjects tell a wonderful story. Each painting has an aura - a spirit, can you tell us what goes into a sitting session with your models?
Lisa Kovvuri: I take a ton of photos, the more the better, when I have a session with a model. I like to have a variety of expressions and poses to work with. The camera is kind of like a sketchbook, recording things for me that I can then go back and expand upon in the studio. There’s often a subtle nuance of just the right expression I can capture with a camera that may otherwise be fleeting and lost if I were painting it from life. My subject, what interests me the most is the expression and the emotion it inspires, the human element more than the visual impression or effect of light. These are of course important and useful tools, but they’re used to serve a different goal rather than be the end goal in themselves. I like having the time and freedom to invent and elaborate on the particulars that inspired me, really home in on the nuances, surfaces and details, to create the kind of intimate experience of human presence I’m after.
TNYO: The Palette, Do you work with an exact grouping of colors making up your color palette?
Lisa Kovvuri: I have a base group of about 8 colors that are usually always on my palette and they include a warm and cool and chromatic and neutral version of each of the primaries. I may change some of them around now and then or add more for a particular painting when called for, but for the most part I like to keep it pretty simple.
TNYO: What is your favorite color?
Lisa Kovvuri: It depends on what day it is . There are so many beautiful colors.
TNYO: If you were not an artist what would you be?
Lisa Kovvuri: An anthropologist or archaeologist
TNYO: :Do you have other hobbies or maybe things that you love to do?
Lisa Kovvuri: I love walking, being outside and absorbing the beauty and mood of the nature around me, especially in the woods and on hiking trails. I also love exploring cities on foot, and of course, travelling.
TNYO: What is your take on the sale of art, through galleries, direct and the world of collecting art?
Lisa Kovvuri: I think it’s wonderful that the internet has created a place for artists to essentially have their own home base and storefront to share and sell their work through. It has also opened opportunities for collectors, and art lovers to become collectors without the intimidation they sometimes feel going into high end galleries. I know people enjoy being able to personally connect with the artists whose work they love. It’s not always easy for artists to find a gallery when starting out, so it helps to have a place where you can do something for yourself until you can find a good one. There are some artists who find they do very well this way and decide they don’t need a gallery.
For quite some time most of my work was commissioned, and I was lucky that my own advertising and word of mouth served me well enough to keep me busy. But recently I’ve scaled back on taking commissions so I can work on my new series. I’ve entered a partnership with a gallery to exhibit and help sell these works, and I’m grateful to have their support. The reason we make art is because we have something meaningful to communicate and share. It’s important that the people who it will resonate for and speak to can find it and have access to it. As artists, we continually work to make that happen in whatever form works best.
TNYO: Is music important to you, do you listen to music when you work, and can you pick a favorite song that you love for our readers to listen to?
Lisa Kovvuri: That’s difficult because I love many different kinds. Both of my sons are musicians and have introduced me quite a lot of music I never thought I would enjoy, but I do! I like a lot of Jazz and fusion, Snarky Puppy comes to mind, who I’ve seen live a few times and are quite amazing. What I listen to depends on my mood, really. Though when I’m working, I prefer to stream meditation music playlists or something similarly peaceful and continuous I can find on YouTube. I like something that maintains the right mood yet doesn’t distract me from getting lost in the flow.
BOUNDARIES
Oil on Panel
9" x 6"
Available
$650.00
LESLIE
Oil on Panel
10 x 8
Sold
Oil on Panel
10 x 8
Sold
STUDY WITH GLASSES
Oil on Panel
7" x 5"
Available
$400 USD
Click Here for Lisa's Full Resume
Drawings
SUNDAY MORNING (STUDY)
Charcoal and graphite on Paper
14 x 18 Available
$500.00 USD
Charcoal and graphite on Paper
14 x 18 Available
$500.00 USD
SANDEEP
Charcoal and white chalk on Toned paper
10" x 9"
Available
CLOAK OF MISGIVING
Charcoal on Paper
16 x 19 Available
$1,000.00 USD
Charcoal on Paper
16 x 19 Available
$1,000.00 USD
Lisa Kovvuri
Fine Art
(603) 397-0703
[email protected]
