Vivienne Strauss has been a full-time artist since 2008. While she is not formally trained as an artist, she has a background in philosophy, is an avid reader, cinephile and nature lover. Her time spent when not creating is sharing a life with husband and artist, Matte Stephens. They co-parent a household of pets, now including two cats and three dogs.

Unable to confine her expressions to a single medium, Strauss works in oils, watercolors, paper

and glue, needle and thread, digital photography and the typed word. She sells worldwide, and has shown in Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Los Angeles, CA; Tokyo, Japan; Manchester, UK; Portsmouth, NH; Peterborough, NH; Groton, MA; New York, NY; Nashville, TN;

Her work has been featured in:

The Observer/Guardian

Patrons include:

Most of my work is the product of allowing my mind wander- I find inspiration everywhere - in nature, in the books I read, the movies I watch and just allowing myself to be as silly as I please.

The first collage I created with birds in cars almost didn’t happen because it “didn’t make sense”. My mantra while I work now is “it doesn’t have to make sense” - because how boring would art be if it did? I never thought the birds in cars would become a recurring theme when I started - now I’ve created over 500 bird collages (not all of them include cars).

With collage work I try to keep my mind open and keep the process spontaneous. I generally try several layouts before committing to glue. I like working with vintage ephemera and magazines from the late 1800s up through the early 1970s. The majority of my work has a humorous quality and for the most part, I create a world I would like to inhabit rather than depicting the current time.

I love a play on words, I love improbable situations. The humans who show up in my work have a quirkiness that is hard to define. I don’t really “do” smiles on my human subjects, if I do, they are generally subtle and sardonic.

Vivienne's work can be viewed and purchased at www.viviennestrauss.com.

Pictured: She Was Given to Little Flights of Fancy

This episode was produced by Jack LeSIeur at the Downing Museum at Baker Arboretum, operated by the Jerry E. Baker Foundation, Inc.