Meet Third Generation Artist, Llisa Demetrios
January 19, 2012
Third generation artist, Llisa Demetrios will be at Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley on February 4, 2012 for DÉCORUM – a gathering of creative minds to exchange ideas and views on all things aesthetic.
Granddaughter of designers Charles and Ray Eames, Llisa Demetrios shares studio space with her mother, sculptor Lucia Eames. Theirs is a family blessed with enormous talent and encouragement for each child to find their own creative voice.
Llisa graduated from Yale University with a BA, studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA and has lectured at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, CA. Llisa works mainly with bronze, creating large-scale sculptures best displayed in gardens and courtyards. Portraying time in sculpture has been an ongoing interest and is an underlying theme in many of her pieces. Her elegant metal sculptures can be found in many corporate and private collections as well as Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley and I. Wolk Gallery.
We got the opportunity to catch up with Llisa recently and picked her brain about her work and what inspires her…
Young Achilles by Llisa Demetrios Bronze 2000
How would you describe your artwork using four words or less?
Surreal, elegant, inviting, whimsical
What is your most marked characteristic?
I enjoy the metamorphosis from my Darth Vader garb, suitable for welding and piloting a forklift, to more feminine apparel.
What is the one topic you could talk about for days on end?
The importance of the arts in schools or education in general
When are you most creative?
Late morning
What is your favorite color?
All shades of blue
Which living person or artist do you most admire?
David Hockney – his swimming pool paintings, Turandot opera stage set, the Grand Canyon paintings and his driving around the mountains near Los Angeles to specific pieces of music. To be that in tune with the world around him . . . his trying to capture the impossible in art!
What is the biggest compliment someone has said about your work?
When they are speechless and happily smiling as the sculpture is placed in their home is the best compliment an artist can receive
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My ongoing multiple series of explorations of how to show time in sculpture
What is your most treasured possession?
Having a studio where I can develop my ideas
If you had only one artwork that you could own, what would you choose? (No limits on this one)!
James Turrell‘s Roden Crater
How has your artistic practice changed since you first began making art?
My work now encompasses both smaller and larger scales.
Meet Llisa and other artists on Saturday, February 4th at DÉCORUM at Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley (6711 Washington Street in Yountville, Ca) for a 12-3pm open house. Please email design@maisonry.com for reservations.
Posted in Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley
