During assembly last week, DCD students, faculty and family members gathered in the Lowell Center to welcome Lisa Houck, artist and former DCD art teacher, who spoke about her experience as an artist and the inspiration behind her work— and she presented a very special gift to DCD!
Head of School Allison Webster first took a few moments to introduce Ms. Houck, saying, “One of the special things about DCD is that people stay connected. Ms. Houck now lives in Maine, but she used to live on Stoney Lea Road, and she would walk down the hill to DCD to teach art everyday, where she taught for 15 years.”
Ms. Houck began by sharing that she made the large mosaic in the DCD lobby with students, and emphasized that it was a true collaboration! She went on to say that she was visiting DCD not only to talk about her experience as an artist, but also to present a print that she is gifting to the school, inspired by Ms. Webster!
Ms. Houck shared that she recently created a series of prints, which were inspired by the work of John James Audubon’s large bird prints from the early to mid 1800’s, along with a print by Japanese painter Soga Shōhaku of the Edo period (early to mid 1700’s), titled Hawk, that she saw during a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in 2017. She explained that she was also very inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s book, A Field Guide To Getting Lost, and the author’s vivid description of the color blue. With these she combined the shapes of circles and ginkgo leaves— all of which, she explained, were the unifying elements that brought her series together. Ms. Houck presented her work to our gathered DCD community, and explained the process of making her prints, which are hand carved out of linoleum. She explained that she uses tools to carve out the areas that are white, and that the other sections become blue from rolling blue ink onto the print block with a rubber roller. Lastly, the large linoleum image is printed through a printing press.
Ms. Houck then told the audience that when she retired from teaching at DCD in 2019, Ms. Webster mentioned that if she ever made a print with a hawk, that she would like to see it! With much excitement from the audience, and with Ms. Webster’s assistance, Ms. Houck then presented her beautiful hawk print!
Students then had the opportunity to ask Ms. Houck questions about her art and working process:
How long did it take to build (make) the print?
Build is a very good word for it, because it took a very long time—several years!
How did you draw it?
I used to teach drawing here at DCD, and I would tell my students to look at the big shapes first, and so I started with the owl, and worked from there.
Where are you going to put it?
Ms. Webster explained that it will be a surprise, and you will all be able to find it!
When did you do your first print?
Six years ago.
What inspired you about ginkgo trees?
I am a big fan of interesting shapes, and they are almost cartoony, so I really enjoy them!
When did you become an artist?
I’ve always been interested in art, but around the age of 13, I decided I wanted to be an artist, and nothing has stopped me since then!
We’re so grateful for Ms. Houck’s incredible gift to DCD, as well as for sharing the inspiration for her work with our students and DCD community!