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Employing paint, collage—in the form of photos and text—metals, and stitching, mixed media artist Lisa Occhipinti weaves a rich visual tapestry that beckons the viewer to come closer. A glimpsed figure or text fragment acts as a visual thread that tugs at the memory or draws one into the world within the canvas.
When seeking inspiration for her creations, Occhipinti looks to the world around her, then creates works that explore identity. For example, her pieces are populated by circles, or rings, which the artist notes are symbolic of several things—the letter ‘O,’ which begins her last name and her birth month; the circle of life; and living cells which are the building blocks of life. The circle also works as a compositional element, a counterbalance against the architectonic feeling of the works and the rectilinear edges of the canvas.
Occhipinti’s palette and technique further enhance the redolent aura of the works. “The colors are always earth tones and the surfaces are textured and layered in order to create a history of ideas as well as a visual richness,” she notes. The title that Occhipinti gives each work also impacts the overall impression the work creates. “I love words, so the words that I use as my titles are always carefully chosen,” she notes. “Sometimes a painting starts with a word, and at other times the word comes later in the process.” No matter the point at which it presents itself, the title always plays an integral part in the effect of the finished work. “My work is all about layers,” asserts Occhipinti. “The first layer is the title, then you move past that and go into the piece itself.”
A New Hampshire native, Occhipinti received her B.A. in fine art from Notre Dame College in Manchester, NH. She furthered her education in the arts with courses at Bennington College in Bennington, VT, as well as at The School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design, both in New York City. She has served on the faculty of the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester and the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. Occhipinti has been honored with a Clowes Fund Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center as well as an Alfred T. Granger Art Award from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. She resides in New Hampshire and has exhibited widely throughout the Northeast.
In addition to her mixed media works, Occhipinti also creates handbags, accessories and jewelry which she markets through her Oona Coco line.
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