Lorianne Hubbard Something Greater: Inside the Artist’s Studio

By Derrick White

The renowned, contemporary artist Chuck Close (American, photorealist painter creating large-scale and gridded-portraits) states, “The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you.” Mr. Close emphasizes success in the art world comes from hard work, good networking, and just being in the right place at the right time. Talent is cheap. I personally instruct under a philosophy summarized by the following quote, “You tell them to find their voice and stay with it. You tell the ones that have it to keep at it. You tell the ones that don’t have it to keep at it too; because that’s the only way they’re going to get to where they’re going. Of course, it does help if you know where you want to go,” this is from the film “Wonder Boys” (2000) based on the 1995 Michael Chabon novel. I’ve seen non artists and bad artists transform into good artists through dedication and lots of hard work. I’ve also seen something rare and in no way cheap. I’ve seen artists with unmistakable, amazing, and gifted talent and through dedication and hard work they become…something greater.

Lorianne Hubbard is an extraordinarily, naturally talented artist. She also invests an extraordinary amount of time and effort into cultivating her abilities. Lorianne’s primary and most studied medium is charcoal and graphite on paper. Her drawings primarily focus on the representation of the human form, which she states, “I transform into symbols and vehicles to express my views and emotions. I am experimenting with mixed media as well. I have been marrying my drawings with embossments, found materials, fabrics, etc., to broaden the conceptual possibilities.” Ms. Hubbard is also a musician, playing mandolin, as well as a singer and songwriter. She has been playing live music with her family band (her parents and two sisters) for over 15 years. The Hubbard Family plays their blend of country, bluegrass, and gospel music all over the country and has even performed in the Philippines. I’ve seen them play, and they are wonderful. Lorianne says, “Our songs are personal testimonies of the joy we have found through faith in Christ and are driven by a love of family and the magic that is live music.”

Lorianne Hubbard has always been surrounded by art and music. Her parents were working musicians in California and her grandparents were singers and musicians. Her grandfather painted and her grandmother loved to draw. “Naturally I gravitated towards visual art and music. My parents always encouraged artistic expression and I lived and breathed it every day whether I was drawing, writing, or play-acting with my sisters. I never had any pressure on me to pick a more functional or practical career so it was not even a question for me that I wanted to live and work as an artist and a musician,” asserts Hubbard.

Like all children, Lorianne created art as a youngster. She just never quit and she was never discouraged from doing so. Like John Lennon said, “every child is an artist until he’s told he’s not an artist.” Lorianne affirms, “Since I was a little girl, I’ve been obsessed with drawing. I drew cartoon characters, dogs, and people all the time. I became especially fixated with drawing the human face, and it was something I worked on all the time. In high school I felt like visual art was something I loved and was good at, so I decided that I wanted to go to college for it. Even though I chose to study art in college instead of music, I still play and sing full-time in my family band, as well as write songs.”

While attending Tyler Junior College Lorianne was taught and encouraged by one of its most proficient art professors, Philana Oliphant Pace, and Lorianne’s ‘greater’ began to grow. “Professor Philana Oliphant Pace, has had the strongest impact on me and I adore her work. Her highly expressive, sensitive, and emotional drawings and sculptures really enlightened me as an artist and draftsman and literally redefined how I thought about drawing. She and her husband James Pace (University of Texas at Tyler art professor) consistently floor me with their bodies of work. I consider them my favorite artists and my mentors,” states the artist.

Lorianne loves the privilege of being able to make something with her own hands and from her own mind. “Taking a piece of paper, flat and bare, and using my hands and charcoal to create a form excites me. Drawing exhilarates and challenges me. My process is loose and I do not spend a lot of time in preparation, so I am always on the edge and responsive as I draw,” she says. “I do not like the thought of being formulaic. I want spontaneity and magic in my work. I have to work really hard to direct myself and maintain self-motivation or I flounder. So my self-discipline, or lack thereof, is a source of frustration for me. I am constantly working on this because I need it desperately to survive as a working artist and a musician,” she adds.

Lorianne Hubbard is inspired and influenced by such artists as Amerighi Caravaggio (Italian Renaissance realistic painter with a dramatic use of light). She responds to his ability to communicate raw spirituality through ‘chiaroscuro’ (shading) and this affects how Lorianne uses light in her own drawings. Other influences include Kent Bellows (deceased (2005), contemporary, American, figurative, meticulous-realist painter), Chuck Close (contemporary, American, photorealist painter) and Robert Longo (contemporary, American, painter of figures in contorted, emotional poses).

Lorianne is currently working on her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Texas at Tyler and will be graduating in 2017. She completed her Associates in Art degree at Tyler Junior College, graduating (summa cum laude) in 2014.

To find out more about Lorianne Hubbard’s art or the Hubbard family band check out:

www.facebook.com/Loriannehubbardart

www.facebook.com/thehubbardfamily

www.loriannehubbardart.com

www.hubbardfamilymusic.com

Be Greater!