Denise Gasser: Mormon Artist
Denise Gasser is a mixed-media artist. Her work has exhibited in Utah and Canada and she was awarded the Carole Badgley Emerging Artist Award in 2013. Her work was included in The 9 Muses: An Interdisciplinary Exhibit of Poetry and Visual Art, full-color exhibition catalogue, published by Black Rock Books, Salt Lake City, Utah. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She grew up in Lehi, Utah, and earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in painting and art education from Utah State University. She studied in Germany as part of her education. She taught art in high school for two years, taught private lessons, and then moved to Berkeley, California while her husband, Dan, finished his degree. The family then moved Vancouver, British Columbia.
Gasser is working currently on a series of 5- by 7-inch panels called "Art After," which will eventually include 200 pieces. Her concept is “to harness the tension and ambivalence that exists in my roles as artist and mother.” She works on each piece until she is literally forced to stop and then does not go back to that piece. She is documenting the time spent on each piece and what interrupted her work, which allows her “to comment on the extremely challenging aspects of continuing to make art after becoming a mother”[1] and “embrace the challenges that typically hinder [her] work.” She adds, “It’s a reminder of what I can still accomplish, and how my life as a mother is rich and full, and beautiful in its complexity.[2] She is the mother of two sons.
She has a collection called Tree Portraiture. She says that trees have been a consistent inspiration to her for several years. “They are beautiful, abundant, and allow for a lot of creative interpretation.”[3]
She is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. She is in a partnership with Plaidfox, an online furniture and home décor company, has cofounded a company called Paper Scissor :: Party Artistry, and sells some of her work through her Etsy shop, Curious Line.
