Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurie Justus Pace.
As splintering light fractions into thousands of colors, Laurie’s journey in life has encompassed many careers: from runway model to graphic artist, from musician to singer, from teacher to artist. She believes that the greatest influence in her life is the beauty God provides daily.
A degree in art, ten years with an advertising agency, and thirty-five years teaching art have brought her full circle to top honors yearly at international art shows in oil, watercolor, and photography. From 2005 forward, invitations for representation at galleries throughout the United States, England and Hong Kong. Constantly pushing the edge, Laurie presses in her work for discovery and celebration. Her compositions are fluid, with color and dimension setting the pace for a unique painting every time with a new journey.
“Viewing a Laurie Justus Pace painting is a rich experience that drips with color and emotion. Her passionate works are alive with movement and texture, boldly created with a wide brush and a palette knife.” She loves working with oils, dramatically carving out the paint and transferring her energy to the canvas and ultimately on to the viewer. Laurie is a co-founder of four working groups of artists: Contemporary Fine Art International, now known as Where Art Lives, Artists of Texas, Daily Painters of Texas, and the Five Graces. She is founder of Visual Language Magazine, serving as Executive Editor from 2012 to 2015. She is also an associate member of WAOW and the Oil Painters of America, Daily Painters, and International Equine Artists.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a musician, a writer, a photographer, a graphic artist (web design) and a painting artist. I am inspired by the often-hidden inner beauty of places, people and things around me. The obvious is the beauty I find in God’s creation of our world or the surface obvious of a person in my eye sight. Deeper is the unseen of everything and everyone around me. The unseen of what occurred to bring us both to this moment in time.
As we grow in life from baby to adult, it encompasses quite a few years. Every second of every moment is part of our future, our today and our past. Every experience, both positive and negative, make subtle changes or even abrupt changes in our thoughts and lives. Many compare it to the threads in a tapestry as it woven. So true of every human, but often there is violence creating tears in our souls of that fabric. These are the hidden things that lie within each of us. Unknown is why the negative or fears seem to overcrowd the beauty and joy that is ours for the accepting and taking.
When a writer writes a story or composes a song or melody… they reach back into those life experiences for both emotions as well as the concrete. Same is true for a painter. This differs for me when it comes to the graphic design on the web. There I rely on visual awareness for balance and design, but it is an inner sense that was born in me, not taught. Photography draws both of these together. It brings in the emotions and lessons of the past and mingles it with the visual awareness, combing it all into the story of the photograph.
With my painting on canvas or birch or panel, the process begins with music, prayer, meditation, and scriptures, poems and sayings. The foundation of my work usually has things scribbled on it as the first layer or foundation of the piece. Next will come gesso and a layer of underpainting. Then the creativity evolves depending on the direction of the piece with roughly painted in layouts or charcoaled in areas of design. My hand seems to reach intuitively for my palette knife over the brush. I have painted many brushes pieces, but the knife remains my strongest ally. Most of my paintings have close to 10 or more layers and being in oil…thickly painted with my knife, they take up to 2 years to cure or even longer.
My paintings are no different than life itself. Hidden in the foundation are my thoughts and scribbles not always shared…just me and my work. Then follows the layers of labor building and creating the weave of the painting itself. I call it ‘the spirit of the paint’ and I have to let go to allow it to emerge.
There is passion in my work and it has evolved and is still changing today. Steve Sonnen, the owner of Mirada Fine Art in Indian Hills outside of Denver, says it best: “Viewing a Laurie Pace Painting is a rich experience that drips with color and emotion. Her passionate works are alive with movement and texture boldly created with a palette knife. Constantly pushing the edge, she loves working in oils, dramatically carving out the thick paint, fluid with color and bursting with energy.”
Steve Sonnen, Mirada Fine Art
The sterotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
Being on the older side of life… at 65, I think about the changes in our society and our values. Life is only as hard as we make it out to be. I do not see an easy or hard about it, only the ability to choose how I view and live through each day. In a dream world, I would love to see cities offer studio space for rotation each year for artists to do a year learning and working with other artists. Helping the communities strengthen not just between artists but between the buyers and viewers of the arts. (Artists being defined as Photographers, musicians, writers, painters, etc.)
But nothing in life comes free and the sooner younger generations realize that having things handed to you deprives you of the journey to build your strength and power in your field. I look back on my journey… and at 13, I was modeling at the Dallas Apparel Mart and at 15 I was turned down for a waitress job at NorthPark in a department luncheonette area, but two days later, hired by Neiman Marcus as an artist model. From there was college, runway modeling, print modeling, commercial work, a degree in commercial art, 10 years with an advertising agency, more modeling…then returning to college for my teaching certificate, teaching middle school, elementary school and finally at 47 dropping it all to paint and figure it out as a working artist. With the love and help of my husband, who I have known since I was 11 at Lake Highlands Jr High… all the way through High School… along with a close friend, Annie, from high school who was a working artists painting and doing all types of work… she encouraged me and mentored me and within 5 years I was making six figures and invited into galleries with my work.
ANY TIME I can reach out to mentor or encourage or help an artist or any age, I do it without hesitating. If it had not been for Annie, I would not have taken this journey with painting. She was my constant even living 2500 miles apart. She died early in life before she turned 55 and the world lost a beautiful woman and artist. So, all this is to say… not just the city, but the artists have to open their hearts and encourage the arts.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I do commissions from my home studio and galleries represent my work. I rarely have things sold directly from the studio, but occasionally on smaller pieces I sell directly through my own website, LauriePace.com I often work with local artist Julie Guidry, Dallas Decorator and Designer. She is a ball of energy and I love being a part of her story.
I keep an open studio and when I have time invite artists to come paint and work with me. I do teach some, but I am not the paint like me teacher, I demonstrate the tools and what they will do, will encourage, nurture and teach painting discipline, but the creativity has to be from the individual. Too often in life people seem to feel that painting or creating is for approval. They learn it at an early age in school. They color or draw and want approval for what they have done, from the teacher to the parent. Children want to gain love through approval and love should be unconditional. Writing, singing, piano, guitar, harp, painting… all of it is for me to unconditionally explore and journey through it. I do not have to have approval from anyone to enjoy what I do.
God gifted me with these talents. I use them to gift back to donations for fundraising or gifts for those that love art. The joy in using my gift to give to others is important. Since 2008 I have been doing Paint it Forward. Each year I do many paintings for the cost of supplies for special situations. Example was a woman asking about a print of one of my wolf paintings for her finance’s Christmas gift. After a phone conversation and realization that $650 for a print was her max budget…and he was 30 plus years a police officer on the east coast just retiring, the painting sent to her in place of a small print, was a 32 x 48-inch original painting of a wolf pack in the snow. Giving back to others that have given so much in life to many, is an honor.
My work is available at these galleries: (The part I miss is the part of meeting the person buying the work and knowing the back story as to why. I feel every painting will call to a heart and that is where it belongs.)
My galleries:
Steve Sonnen
Mirada Fine Art aka Miradafineart.com
5490 Parmalee Gulch
Indian Hills CO 80454
Elisabeth Diane King
The La Jolla Gallery aka TheLaJollaGallery.com
1274 Prospect St, La Jolla, CA 92037
Eric Waddington
The Fringe Gallery aka TheFringeGallery.com
345 W Pierpont Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
(385) 202-7511
Pam Massar
The Dutch Art Gallery aka dutchartgallery.net
10233 East Northwest Highway Suite 420
Dallas, Texas 75238
Contact Info:
- Website: https://LauriePace.com
- Email: http://ellepace.com/contact-laurie-justus-pace/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriepacecollection/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauriePaceArtStudio
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauriePace
Image Credit:
Alejandro Castanon Fine Art
Ken Vaughn Photography Dallas TX
Terry Lewis Photography Nacogdoches TX
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
