2023 Henry Edwards Resident Artist in Painting: Lillian Warren

The 2023 Henry Edwards Resident Artist in Painting, Lillian Warren, presents “Liminal Landscapes: Place and Non-Place” featuring suburban and urban landscapes. She focuses on commonplace scenes to show people, as she put it, “their daily life is worthy of art.”

Warren’s painting exhibition is currently open in ASU Gallery 193 in the Carr-Education Fine Arts Building from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and is free for the ASU community and public to visit. The exhibition first opened on Aug. 28 and will be closed on Sept. 15.

The Henry Edwards Residency seeks to share the expertise and research of noted individuals in the visual arts with the San Angelo community. It is sponsored by the ASU Art Program’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and the Friends of Art and Music Education (FAME).

Warren paints the urban and suburban landscape she sees around her in Houston, San Antonio and San Angelo. “I find that I don't paint what people normally think of when they think of landscape painting, because that tends to be glorious vistas or carefully cultivated gardens,” she said.

Warren explains her belief that there are two aspects surrounding the landscapes around the cities. One, the unexpected beauty in ordinary in-between non-places is what she highlights and shares with others. Two, she sees the spaces as an example of society's struggles; the connection and alienation from nature as well as the proximity and isolation among people.

She conveys her message by unifying structural elements to create the emotional impact of her artworks. “It all has to be married together so that it's all in harmony; what you want to communicate, what you paint and how you paint it. Make sure everything is in harmony, make sure everything is driving in the same direction,” Warren said.

For her "Liminal Landscapes” exhibition, her process includes painting on a synthetic paper called Mylar. Warren will often start with acrylic paints but switches over to oil paints when the acrylic quickly dries.

The subjects that she has painted have changed over time, but her paintings share a broad theme. “There's an underlying kind of thread in between non-places and how they speak to our emotional condition,” she said.

Warren’s artistic style has changed gradually. She likes to experiment with techniques, color combinations and artistic elements that she sees in other artists’ works and incorporate them into her own paintings.

 “I've done works that are kind of half drawing, half painting because I love the drawn line. And those are very different from some work I've done with strictly fluid acrylic paint, which looks a lot like watercolor until you get close up,” Warren said.

In a previous art series, “Traffic-scapes,” Warren focused on traffic in suburban and urban landscapes. She thinks that younger viewers, such as teenagers, enjoyed “Traffic-scapes” because they saw their world represented in those paintings. Warren believes that they will also enjoy the Liminal Landscapes series for the same reason.

 “I think they liked that and even in these kinds of works, because it's like, well, I live next door to a place like that. You mean places that I live in are worthy of art? That's an interesting idea.”

The artist lecture will be held on Thursday, Sept. 14 in Room 101 of the Carr Education-Fine Arts Building from 3 to 5 p.m. It will be open to the public with free admission.