About the Artist

Biographical Sketch

Liisa Strandman-Long was born in Heinola, Finland, and raised and educated in Helsinki, Finland.  She conducted research and received advanced degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Helsinki and subsequently worked as a guest scientist at Lund University, Sweden.  She emigrated to the United States in 1981 and became a naturalized citizen in 1992.  Liisa began studying art in the early 1990s in Maryland, studying with various instructors, primarily at the Mitchell School of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD.  On several trips to Finland, she studied icon painting at the Monastery at Valamo, Finland.  Liisa’s artwork comprises painting in various styles and original quilting design and execution.  In painting, she has diversified among still lifes, contemporary art, landscapes, portraiture, and icon painting.  She has sold in excess of one hundred paintings in regional shows.   

Self-sketch of the artist as a young woman

Artist’s Statement

I started painting still lifes as an exercise in drawing and painting.  Over the years, I have begun to appreciate the value of capturing a moment of beauty that can be preserved on canvas beyond the life of a flower or the freshness of a fruit.  I pay special attention to light and shadow and try to compose settings that display a variety of textures and balance of colors.  In my opinion, choosing and setting the still life is a critical element of painting it.  I enjoy the construction of paintings in a contemporary style as well.  Ideas for my contemporary paintings come most often from reading I do (for example, To His Coy Mistress is inspired by a poem by Andrew Marvell), music I listen to, or art I see.  In my contemporary work, I try to communicate ideas and thoughts through play on colors and forms.  The work tends to be representational, deconstructing ideas into fragmented forms that taken together shape a whole.