Featured Artist | November 2025

Lois Rossiter

Tell us about your practice as a maker.

A dot, a line, a swoosh, a dribble, patterns, textures, smudges, juxtaposition; I’m looking for the next move as each mark and gesture informs the next - a call and response. I was inspired long ago by nature writer Cathy Johnson, author of Becoming Lost - A Naturalist’s Search for Meaning. In her work she writes: “There is an art to wandering. If I have a destination, a plan -
an objective - I’ve become too focused, too single-minded. I am on a quest, not a ramble. I search for the Holy Grail of particularity and miss the chalice freely offered, filled full and overflowing.”

Where do you thrive? Where do you struggle?

It’s often expansive and messy. I thrive in a terrific physical workspace that enables me to spread out and leave my work to dry, waiting to be invited back into play. By being present, visible and not-to-be-ignored, it’s calling for the next move. My tools and materials are visible on open shelves and containers, not in drawers, so I have easy access to everything, everywhere, all at once - and that can sometimes be my struggle...ah, choices! I dive in and let the wandering begin.

Who/what influences you?

My art thinking and processing would not have evolved as it has without the profound influence of several artist/educators: Nancy Culmone, who transformed my understanding of what calligraphy could be and to “keep listening”; Corita Kent (Learning by Heart), who encouraged developing seeing muscles; Laurie Doctor, who inspired and validated writing, writing, writing without pen lifts; letters: overt, nuanced, pliable, structured as endless possibilities for wandering.

What is one intention you have for your practice this year?

Working to enliven and relax the structured approach to my colored pencil botanical art and still retain the true color, values and exquisite details of the plant’s form - I’m listening.