Author: Bessesdotter

Alison Bessesdotter is an artistic autodidact and intuitive artist. Born a Bucks County artist, Alison grew up along the banks of the Delaware River in rural Pennsylvania. As a child she developed a lifelong interest in the meticulous observation of nature which continues to inspire her artwork. She is respectful of tradition but works with an iconoclastic streak experimenting with various mediums. Her works have been described in the press as “improvisational: worlds of magic, euphoria and enchantment.” Currently, Alison maintains a studio in Reigate where she founded Bell Street Artists in 2021. Bessesdotter also has over a decade of expert experience in selecting and hanging over a dozen exhibitions annually for other artists and groups. Until 2019 Bessesdotter was a Resident Artist for 7 years at the Banana Factory, a community arts centre in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Alison served as a Visual Arts Board member of ArtsQuest and was on the Music Committee. Alison was the administrator of a Livestrong grant to bring art classes to people with cancer living in the local community. Alison managed The Bessesdotter Verksted from 2010-2013. She performed tasks such as curator, membership coordinator, publicity chair and juror for regional art organisations including The Salemme Foundation and The Allentown Art Museum. Prior to this Alison maintained a studio at home and was a member of the Spirit Square printmaking cooperative studying lithography with Tamarind Printmakers. Bessesdotter holds a Degree in Technology and Computer Science. Bessesdotter has received the ArtPop Billboard Award in 2018, a LiveStrong Grant in 2014-2015, the Pittsburgh Watercolour Painting Prize 2013 and Lehigh Art Alliance Prize 2011 and 2012. Alison’s artworks are in private and corporate collections.
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Written Edges

Dawn spent this morning in the company of my kaleidescope, turning, spinning, shaking, dipping and tipping it catch the light fragments, hearing the small pieces inside flit-flutter like little laboring beetles tracking their footprints inside. A tiny pleasure while spent in moments of solitude before the daylight completely unfolds and the dogs expect to be greeted with a big heart.

No painting today, this is a day of errands until the afternoon or evening when I can zone into my process of drawing and painting, working a 22 x30 watercolor right now on the table. Ready to unveil it soon.

 

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The Artist does it again

Originally published August of 2010, this is revisited February 2012.

The Artist. A Title. A venerable title that holds so much promise, yet is born out of deep pain or resonant joy, each work is a reflecting pool of a life, a time, a dwelling, a bond, a collaborator or partner. Ever The Artist. I have dragged The Title kicking and screaming all the way, sometimes losing sight of it, putting others needs before The Title’s needs. At times The Title gets complacent and waits, whirring and worrying, behind me shadow-like, and then feeling trapped it gnaws off a leg. And it lets me know every time that it is weary of being flouted and it gets angry. That is how The Title preserves itself. What if I die before It gets It’s work done? How dare I…so I step aside again and let it chew off a limb or kill a part of my life so we can get to work again.
The Artist has just killed again.

Recurring theme – surfaced again, I had to visit this again to find the essence of the work. Its always a bloody event, visceral and real, takes me down to a bare bones emptiness. Yet out of it comes something so clear and pristine that I gasp as I feel the new power surge through me.

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Finding my tribe

I never knew what was missing, an imperceptible feeling of some little chink out of my metal, a small scaley plate-like chip was blown off like a shingle from a roof-top in the winter howling. Asking for resolution brought solutions and people and ideas then no people and the essence of the art changed as it happened. it all just evolved, adapted together but seeing the evidence of it as i was full of living and not noticing was the real challenge. all at once the concept was so evident at the forefront of my mind, I came to see that i just knew, knew the history, the future and everything in between. Almost like the Bene Gesserit women of Herbert’s Dune novel, they inherited the information from all those who came before them. My work  I feel//think embodies that often. All the abstract work of the people that are my tribe exists in me, like all other parts of my mitochondrial DNA, it blasts through no matter what I do.

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A Golden Heart

As an artist, I often find people do not understand what I do and why I would do it. To learn to create in different mediums thrills me. But today a friend from my past appeared with a  kindness, a few words; it was so sincere but without the appearance of any motive. Truly a person with a golden heart. This is the kind of stuff that makes me feel like painting or creating, an uplifting of my moral spirit to a higher good–its lofty, noble even and I love it. Thank you and you know who you are and I will be painting for me. But for now here is one from the recent archive.

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Soaring

“When we soar into unknown verse” (detail bottom right) 9 x 12 watercolor
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Fire Goddess

This piece was painted while I was sitting in a new age store in Allentown – with some of my friends. It is a Fire Goddess, she is ready with her shield and sword, coming to the aid of all who need protection. 

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Rough winds…

do shake the darling buds of May – and will the cold ever leave my chilled heart? The radiance of the sun spoke from the clouds for a short day and for the first time in many months I was warm. I passed by this garden gate yesterday afternoon and think it is just lovely.

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The best is yet to come

I have become aware that my painting comes intuitively – almost automatically. I can paint what I need to when it needs to be done.

Being able to engage a complete idea within a painting is not something that ever occurred to me in the past. Now that I CAN–lookout! But then why would I even publish those lovely orange paintings when I can just look at them everyday and enjoy them myself.

maahhwhhhha-ha-ha-ha!

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Portraits by Barnaby Ruhe

On Valentine’s Day 2011 – Mom and I went to a party at the Salemme Foundation in Allentown, PA. Barnaby Ruhe was there and did our portraits. Barnaby did something mom and I really liked. He painted some illustration board on one side, and collaged some photos into the painting, then cut the board into random size pieces. When guests arrived at the party they could select a piece of board and Barnaby would do a portrait. Mom and I both did that, she chose a photo of Robert Rauschenberg and I chose a photo of a shark. I was feeling pretty sharky about then.

We have them setup on the bar near the front door and enjoy them as we enter the house.

Anyway, I just got them scanned and here they are:

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Its for a Great Cause – V Day Banana Factory Bethlehem PA March 2011

Angela Sinkler has organized V Day at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem Pa for March 11, 12 and 13, 2011. The cast and crew are putting on the Vagina Monologues production and the proceeds go to V Day to end violence against women and girls.

My friend Kate Hughes, a myriad of talent and amazing woman is a cast member and asked me to donate a piece of artwork for a Silent Auction for the cause. This cause is particularly dear to my heart and I am really thrilled to help out. I also assisted as a volunteer for the show setup and to take tickets. So….drumroll…if you are attending one of the shows, Please visit the gallery for the silent auction and BID on this colorful and very detailed watercolor!

The piece I donated is 7″ x 10″ and pictured below:

View from the Volicorusinda-ferren ridge
View from the Volicorusinda-ferren ridge detail signature
View from the Volicorusinda-ferren ridge detail of the bricklayers box
View from the Volicorusinda-ferren ridge detail of sunanimbular ring