31 Women – March 11th: Lisa Noonis
Crisscross, 2019
Mixed Media (acrylic, graphite, collage, latex) on paper mounted to panel
28″ x 18″
Crisscross began as a drawing from a live model; it developed over time. I began simplifying lines into shapes. Then added some unexpected color through collage and paint. For a while there wasn’t anything in the background. I had been working on several still life paintings at the same time, and decided to suggest a still life in the background. For me, it put the figure in an space. I aimed to keep the figurative feel while pushing it toward abstraction. – Lisa Noonis
Lisa Noonis
Lisa Noonis grew up in a large, loving Greek family and is still inspired by the memory of her Yia-yia (grandmother) who was patient and present, teaching her that life was like sorting rice – you have to pick out the bad and keep the good. Noonis discovered art early in life, winning first place in a children’s art festival and showing so much talent that her high school art teacher insisted that she go on to art school and pursue a career in the fine arts. After a detour as an engineering student her first year of college, she went on to earn her BA in art, communications and advertising.
Noonis worked at a communications firm, then embarked on her own as a freelance graphic designer and art director, eventually forming her own successful advertising, marketing and design company. Despite this achievement, she sensed that something was missing, and always felt the need to express something “more personal and more permanent than ads, logos and brochures”. This feeling spurred her to ultimately make a leap of faith by renting an art studio and committing to seriously pursue a fine art practice. Noonis took workshops, studied with masters and became dedicated to painting every day—still life, portraits, landscapes, and anything that would “sit still in the studio or in front of her canvas”.
When interviewed for 31 Women and asked about her inspirational women, Noonis named “late-bloomer” artist Katherine Bradford as a current day heroine, noting “she’s 78!! and just hitting her stride.” In looking back, Noonis’ early work and vision were visibly influenced by such masters as Cezanne, Modigliani and Morandi. However, she cites Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler as inspirations for their courage and for the sheer scale and energy in their work. Similarly, Noonis often works in large scale. A 9’ x 19’ span of paper may stay on the studio wall for a while, allowing her the time, freedom and space for continuous thought. Once the concepts are complete, she cuts and crops into individual works to be mounted on panels.
Lisa Noonis’ creative practice has changed over the years as her work shifted from advertising to fine arts; and within in her fine art as realism evolved into abstraction, painting from life moved into painting from memory, and small canvases grew into large. Today, she continues to evolve and grow as an artist as she “explores the objects, people and places in her world”.
Lisa Noonis is represented by Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO; Carver Hill Gallery
Camden, ME; Pryor Fine Art, Atlanta, GA; and Whitney Modern, Los Gatos, CA
