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Right Brain: Lisa Kohlhepp

LESLIE BREFELDsummit daily news
Summit Daily/Kristin Skvorc
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Twenty-six-year-old artist Lisa Kohlhepp is testing the waters. She currently teaches workshops in ceramics and beading at the Robert Whyte House, is a teacher’s aid for a Colorado Mountain College ceramics class and has her earrings on display at the Arts Alive! gallery. “I’m checking it all out and seeing what it’s like – deciding whether to devote myself to making my art and doing that for a living or if I would enjoy it more for myself and friends,” Kohlhepp said.Kohlhepp has been in the county for the last two seasons, and although her artwork doesn’t yet pay the bills, she said she’s stoked just to be doing art after college.In her most recent workshop, Imaginary Clay World, Kohlhepp had her students imagine a world of their own, and then build it with clay.”Art is such a wonderful release for me in expressing myself. I want kids to have the same experience,” she said. “It’s neat to see what they’ve made.”Kohlhepp will instruct a six-week workshop on ceramic pitfiring at the Robert Whyte House starting April 26.

What are your dreams/what would you like to do with your art?I want to keep creating my art, sharing it with others, and let it be known how fulfilling it is to express yourself.What does art give you/why do you do it? I create art to be able to express myself visually. There is something opening for me in the making process. The process of creating is just as exciting as the finished piece. In the process it’s exciting to see how a piece changes and evolves from the original idea. What do you try to convey through your art?Aesthetically pleasing artwork, a feeling through colors, how I am relating myself to the ever-changing cycles of nature. Sometimes I don’t know what exactly I’m making, but I am absorbed in creating.

What is your biggest challenge, and how do you deal with it?Just getting to the studio can be one of the biggest challenges. But once I’m there, I dig into the clay and begin.- Leslie Brefeld What are you most proud of regarding your art (and/or greatest accomplishment)?



I am happiest when I am consistently in my creative groove and my hands are excited to explore. Showing my artwork in galleries (in Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania) feels like a positive accomplishment.How do you stay fresh/motivated? I observe what nature’s up to and its cycle and draw it, look through books that the images inspire me and catch my eye, go to a gallery and look at artwork, do a visual journaling, take photographs, look at fruits and vegetables – all things to restore the artist’s visual well. What do you do when you’re not making art?Telemarking, seeing live music, listening to music, traveling, cooking, yoga, or just chillin.


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