We recently connected with Bonnie Lalley and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Bonnie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents were unusually supportive, for their time, in our pursuits as creatives. I have seven siblings and each of us, in our way, is a maker- from artisanal foods to gardens to writing and of course the visual arts. My parents both, grew up on farms in a region that is remote and surrounded by wilderness. They moved to a large city when they married, but, they never grew out of their love and delight for the bits of nature that came our way on our tiny urban lot. Flora and fauna were always a big part of the dinner table discussion.
When I was fifteen years old, they de-camped with the younger half of the family and moved us back up north to two hundred acres of mostly wilderness. I was an urban girl who felt like Paradise had been found. Our dinner conversations went from “did you see the cardinal?” to a much wider scope. The conversation was now expanded to ” did you hear the coyotes last night? Did you hear the bob cat scream?”
For a large family, money was never free flowing, however, my generous parents always made sure we were equipped with the materials that we craved, for our particular project. Praise from them as well, was never stinted. We were incredibly lucky in our situation as creative people.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a maker and a biophile. The natural world informs all of my work. Ten years ago, I discovered the work of Maria Sybilla Merian as well as that of Mary Delany. Both of these women found their unique voice and created incredible scientific and botanical studies- Merian in the 17th century and Delany in the 18th.
After many years as an oil painter I was, upon viewing their works for the first time, inspired to move to painting on paper.
I use water based media, flora and fauna are primary themes, but, I also feel that I found my own voice in the way I freely use cut paper, layered with paint, to create textile like pieces.
I work on a very large scale for large room installations as well as on an intimate “sampler” like scale.
I just completed a large installation/collaboration with Granor Farms in Three Oaks, Michigan. For this project I made six new panels 64″ x 42″ . These were installed as “floating” pieces in the dining greenhouse, for the diner’s pleasure, during the regional “Art Attack” weekend.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
What is incredibly rewarding is meeting the collectors of my work. The people who purchase my work are from wildly diverse backgrounds. One common thread they have, of course, is how my art speaks to them. Some sales have been conducted entirely remotely, but, they each send me photos of the installation of the piece they purchased. I have had much conversation – both remotely and vis à vis about art and other topics with these lovely people as well as invitations to visit!
I love the people aspect of my work.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
To shake off shyness and hold my nose and jump in both feet! I love my instagram community and I love telling a visual story. The response to my work and experience has been so warm and supportive that I suffer less self doubt than I did pre-social media. When one is no longer a student with that kind of built in community , or in a great city with meeting places of like minded people , I find , the reaching out via media to be a great way for dialogue in between the real life events.
Contact Info:
- Website: bonnielalley.com
- Instagram: bonnielalley
Image Credits
EE Berger