Laying the Foundation: Lissie Teehee

Lissie Teehee, Edmond

Lissie Tehee, Steady, Boy, Pen on Paper, 30X22

What was your concept and inspiration for these pieces?
Teehee: I began this series with the intention of creating some subliminal message for my young daughter. The lines were intended as a base, situated as a horizon with colors or objects over the top, but I ended up exploring it much differently. 

I began to stubbornly fill large pages with the lines and in creating these foundations, I began to understand them as the foundational layers that make up our lives. Sometimes we are balanced and other times we are trying to find balance, but nonetheless we are always growing, with some foundation beneath our feet. Not only did these layers come to represent our lives, but I noticed that they were also very geological and even biological or cellular – all of those small parts made one big whole, and the possibilities were infinite.

Lissie Tehee, Steady, Boy (detail), Pen on Paper, 30X22

Please explain the technique and process you used to create your Momentum work.
Teehee: The pieces shown at Momentum were started with pen from the bottom and worked all the way up. They are very intuitive and I rarely have a set plan for them. There are more pieces in this series and in the last month or so I have begun to break out of the borders and start somewhere in the middle, and I am also working on a much larger scale. It is indeed one pen stroke at a time and the process is a calm and quiet one.

Lissie Tehee, The Climb, Pen on Paper, 30X22

Where else can audiences see your artwork?
Teehee: I plan on having this entire series finished to show by the end of spring. I am also in the process of creating a website of my own that will include any series I have done along with my sketchbooks, collage, and printmaking work, which should be up by the end of March.

This artwork will be featured at Momentum OKC, opening March 1 & 2 at the 50 Penn Place in Oklahoma City. View, experience and purchase art by Oklahoma emerging young artists. Learn more at www.MomentumOklahoma.org.