Carolyn Mae Lassiter: A Journey Through My Heart and Mind

Digital Exhibition


Vibrant and uniquely executed paintings and drawings are inspired by dreams, spirituality, life in the country, family, and animals.

March 23 - April 20 | Free Event
Opening Reception: Tuesday, March 23, 6 p.m. ET, Online

Carolyn Mae Lassiter’s vibrant and uniquely executed paintings and drawings are inspired by dreams, spirituality, life in the country, family, and animals.  In particular, the soulful female body often shows up with pride and marvelous eccentricity. Using bold saturated color, or ink with muted watercolor accents, or adding relief incorporating her sculpture into her paintings, even as the mediums change, evolve and combine, the core spirit of Carolyn Mae Lasssiter’s art is unmistakably hers and undeniably her. Originally from Ahoskie, North Carolina where she and her family picked cotton, tobacco and peanuts, the artist has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1982.

View Exhibition spacer Sign the Guest Book


Bio
Carolyn Mae Lassiter has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1982 with her husband, Edmond Rabkin and their daughter Lara. Carolyn’s art is representative of her soulful and thoughtful self expression. While she spent little time immersed in the formal educational school system, Carolyn engaged in a rich and diverse informal education that life’s experiences offer.

As the second of four girls, her early years were spent in Ahoskie, North Carolina where she and her family picked cotton, tobacco and peanuts. At thirteen years old Carolyn and her family moved to Queens, New York. She worked a variety of jobs including telephone operator, photographer’s rep and stylist, and modeling on Madison Avenue. After meeting her husband in New York, Carolyn and Edmond traveled to Mexico where they lived with a family of Nahuatl speaking indigenous artists. It was while living in Mexico that she was drawn to art as an expression of herself. Her early work consisted of drawings using black ink on paper which evolved into paintings using mixed media (acrylic, oil, decoupage, wax, fabrics, paper maché), never afraid to experiment with new materials, be inspired by fellow artists, and learn new techniques. After ten years in Mexico, Carolyn and her family returned to the United States and settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

With many paintings and other folk art from Mexico, Carolyn opened a gallery in historic downtown Santa Fe. After several years of success, she decided to close the gallery and began to devote more time expressing herself through her own art. And as her only daughter left for college, she began to build sculptures using found objects, the majority of these “life size” goddesses dwell outdoors.
When looking at Carolyn’s work, female energy is an obvious theme, and she will often mention the fact that she was one of four sisters and that she has a daughter so “she likes her girls”, in addition, dreams, spirituality, life in the country, family, and animals, are incorporated in her imagery. Using bold saturated color, or ink with muted watercolor accents, or adding relief incorporating her sculpture into her paintings, even as the mediums change, evolve and combine, the core spirit of Carolyn Mae Lasssiter’s art is unmistakably hers and undeniably her.

She currently shows her critically acclaimed work with the Santa Fe Society of Artists, and has shown at the College of Santa Fe and El Zocalo in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Southwestern Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bill Hodges Gallery, Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery, Luise Ross Gallery and Puck Show in New York, New York, Barbara Archer Gallery, High Museum and Aliya Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, a one person show in the Fall of 2009 at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and most recently, in a group show at the State Capitol Building in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the Spring/Summer of 2010.and 2012.