Elizabeth Tilly Strauss at Columbia County Council on the Arts

Could it be I’ve been an artist my whole life? There was a brief time in my early adolescence when I really didn’t try to make art, but then drawing became a solace for me through my turbulent late teens. I went to college and studied art history and studio art intending to work in a museum or in the gallery world with other peoples art. But I started to feel frustrated and spent my weekends painting canvasses that haunted me during the week. I really tried not to be an artist. And I failed.

Every day I get to the studio and I feel a point of pure bliss. When I was about 6 years old I watched Sandy Calder, the sculptor and a neighbor of my grandmother’s in France, “work” in his studio. I knew he was living a magical life as a grown up. I wanted to live like him. My studio is full of wet panels, empty frames, found nests, brilliant flowers, eggs, miniature chairs, maps, and teacups. Looking about me I see a vocabulary of images that make a virtual dictionary of metaphors to paint.

I am a daily painter so in addition to large installation pieces such as the Treasure Map at the Poughkeepsie train station, or the Boston Cows, or the Dove for the First Congregational Church, I start and finish a small painting every day. I paint stories of journeys, often humorous and, to me, darkly insightful. I also paint chickens. Sometimes the chickens are on journeys, at crossroads, or in tight spots. The paintings inevitably reflect the challenges of existence, of being a mother, a woman, and a steward of the land. Lately I have been painting landscapes on maps, farm animals on found wood, and domestic scenes combined with found text from newspaper headlines.

I hope my art speaks to transformation and healing. My aim is to make beautiful paintings and not ignore the challenges of real life. I have painted through the death of friends, the challenges of marriage, the growth of my children, and the evolution of local farms.

Drawing and painting has always been important to me, but in the last ten years I have been more aware of the business side of art. I spend half of my 40 studio hours a week networking, researching, promoting, and cataloguing work. I also enjoy creating artist support groups, working as a board member of the Dutchess County Arts Council, and promoting events between artists and the public, such as slide slams and studio tours.

Tilly Strauss

www.tillystudio.com

2/20/10

Town Artist for Millerton, Northeast, Amenia, commissioned by Walkway.org. Procession and community workshop coordinator for unveiling of Poughkeepsie Walking on Air Pedestrian Bridge. October 4

Dove of New Life, a 13 foot wide panel painting commissioned & installed above the alter of the First Congregational Church, Poughkeepsie, NY, www.fccpok.org

Awarded Most Unique Design for two windows as part of the Windows on Warren, Winter Walk event in Hudson, NY, by City of Hudson, and the Hudson Development Corporation

Named by InsideOut magazine one of “the Hudson Valley’s 100 Most Dedicated Artists”

Dutchess County Tourism Farm Fresh Activity & Coloring Book, artwork and concept designed by Tilly Strauss, Published with funds by New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Dutchess County Tourism, and Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation.

Cover art for Memories from A Country Schoolhouse, 108 page book by John Quinn, Indian Rock Schoolhouse Association, Amenia, NY

Awarded Dutchess County Executive Arts and NEA commission for a Public artwork as part of the revitalization of the Poughkeepsie train station, Artistic Map of Dutchess County , “Treasure Map”.

The Dutchess County Executive Arts Award, Art in Public Places, Winner.

President of ArtEast, (since 2007) collaborative organization between eastern Dutchess County artists and businesses. Developed and promoted the annual art studio tour. Awarded a grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation.

Art Instructor,(since 2009) workshops, Barrett House and the Mill Street Loft, Poughkeepsie, NY

Founder of ArtWomen@Work. (Since 2006) Artist support group spanning Dutchess and Litchfield Counties. Exhibition and public presentation at the Howland Cultural Center January 2008

Board Member, (since 2002), for Indian Rock School, the Webutuck Country School House Association. Served as secretary, Programs committee head, and fundraiser. Volunteer, workshop facilitator.

Arts Reporter, for the Millbrook Independent newspaper, cover local art events

curator “For the Love of Art” featuring work of emerging Hudson Valley Artists for Peekskill’s Hat Factory and Rick Yamet Art. Inc

Juror for the Dutchess County Arts Council grants, and Metro North Public Arts Program

The Howland Cultural Center, “Celebrating Women Artists of the Hudson Valley”, Beacon, NY

THE RECORD REVIEW, Bedford NY. Something Foxy: Tilly Strauss is inspired by the Farm, Foxy Gwynne, page 19

THE MILLERTON NEWS, “Chickens, Nets and rural Art” by Cory Allen, December 17

THE MILLBROOK INDEPENDENT, “Twenty Paintings in twenty Years”, by A. Belotti, Dec. 9

DUTCHESS MAGAZINE, a journal register Company Publication, “Mapping Time with Elizabeth “Tilly” Strauss; A portrait of a Dutchess County Artist”, cover photograph and feature article by Frank Matheis, Nov/Dec 08

HARLEM VALLEY TIMES, “Millerton show launches ArtEast studio Tours”, Jennifer Barry, October 9

BOOK: Colour, Obsession, Joy and Torment: The Daily Painters Art, by Micah Condon

MILLERTON NEWS, “ArtEast brings Artists of Harlem Valley Together”, Cory Allyn, October 9