Lois Andersen: Painting Perspectives

By Pamela Ellertson

With over 30 years of teaching experience, Lois Andersen smiles broadly when asked what it is she likes so much about her chosen profession.

“The variety of the human imagination is fascinating. Each of us sees differently; some are captivated by detail, some see the big picture. I try to understand how a person sees and help them move forward,” says Andersen. She has taught oil painting, wood-block printing and teen classes at The Umbrella Community Arts Center since 2009.

Andersen’s approach focuses on fundamental principles: drawing, composition, values and color. She says, “I am not interested in making people paint as I do. For example, the degree of finish in a piece is a personal choice, as is the direction towards abstraction or highly articulated realism. The same principles always apply.”

Andersen first taught in 1997 in Concord/Carlisle’s Adult and Community Education program. After moving away and years of living elsewhere, she returned with her family to Concord in the late 1980’s. Since then she has been able to develop her painting and taught art for 25 years in local private schools. She is delighted to teach at The Umbrella where, she says, “everyone in the class has chosen to be there!”

Regarding working with adults in Umbrella classes, Andersen says, “most adults are highly critical of their own work. The challenge is to help people be patient with themselves. Most everyone can move forward and find great satisfaction.”

Norwegian Inspiration

The daughter of a commercial artist in Manhattan, Andersen began her formal art training at Pratt Institute. After years of study at the Art Student’s League, NYC, she was awarded the McDowell Travel Scholarship for a year abroad. Part of that year was spent living and painting in her father’s home town in Norway, beginning a life-long fascination with the country and its landscape.

“Northern Light” titles Andersen’s series of paintings of the last 5 years. She has been working to depict the vast, severe beauty she discovered while touring the Lofoten Islands in the Norwegian Arctic.

When asked to describe her process, Andersen explains, “You begin with some compelling scene or idea…then you take all of who you are and all your tools – color, form, texture, etc. – and work to create the sense of that time and place. You do it for the great pleasure of making something.”

Andersen’s work is on display as part of “Passage”, the Umbrella Studio Artist’s Annual Group Exhibition at 40 Stow Street, from March 7 to April 7, and she invites interested community members to visit her during The Umbrella's Open Studios, April 6 and 7.

Andersen will teach a course in Oil Painting: Considering Composition and Color this spring, and also lead a Plein Air Painting Workshop on Monhegan Island this June, offered through The Umbrella Education Program.