Rising Stars: Meet Alexis Litsch of Kennesaw

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Litsch.

Hi Alexis, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Everyone has big dreams as a kid. You ask an imaginative five-year-old what they want to be when they want to grow up and they say a firefighter, a doctor, or a veterinarian. While these are great professions, it’s uncommon to see a child stick to these aspirations when they go through adulthood and find their way. What I love about being an artist is that I didn’t have to grow up to be one. I have always been an artist ever since I was capable of holding a crayon. There’s a quote Picasso said that I really like, “Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.” Over the years, I have honed my craft and progressively got to a point through determination to make my passion and career path coincide. I see too many people separate these categories, work is a trudging compartment of life and what they love is completely separate. That brings me to another quote that has become my mantra over the years, “Do what you love and the money will follow (Marsha Sinetar).”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road, but that’s okay! I would rather take the road less traveled and plow resiliently through adversity than take a comfortable path with the weight of “what if?” I would say the biggest struggle in my artist career has been the vocal doubts from others. Too many people don’t take this profession seriously. I faced most of this trouble in my high school years. People say, “How would you even make money doing that?” or “No, what do you actually want to be?” It frustrated me to my core. But I take that emotion and just let it be fuel to the flames of my ambition. I haven’t encountered a conversation like this in a while. It could be that the perception of artistic careers as a profession is becoming more normalized. Or it could be that my successes speak for themselves, but I wish someone didn’t have to be successful to gain other’s support. It meant more to me when people believed in me when I was still finding my way.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I do a lot; some might even say too much. I do watercolor, acrylic, oil paint, spray paint, charcoal, wood-burning, graphite, digital, ceramics, and tattooing. Given the choice, I gravitate most to oil paint. The way you can blend oil paint is like no other medium I have worked with. Plus, it stays wet, giving you a longer window of working time. What I lean towards is an abstract expressionist style. While I admire realism, I gravitate more towards art with a painterly approach and expressive brushstrokes. My favorite thing to paint is landscapes, especially west coast landscapes. At the time being, I wouldn’t say that I have a subject matter that I’m known for. I’ll get there someday but I am still exploring and finding my unique style. This takes years for artists to do! In the meantime, I have the freedom of painting or drawing whatever I want without feeling constricted to what I might be known for. What I am most proud of is all the incredible works I’ve made up to this point. I have a studio full of drawings, paintings, sketches that I have put my time and heart into. But it doesn’t stop there! It’s exhilarating to think that there is no capacity in what I will make in my artistic career. I have a determination and eye for rendering that sets me apart from others. A compliment from one of my clients that I hold special to my heart said, “You were able to capture our vision!” I think being such a visionary is a valuable trait in the art world.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Stephanie Pickens. She was my high school art teacher at West Forsyth. I had her every single year from freshman to senior year and sometimes for two classes. I accredit a large part of my art career to her. She believed in me when I was a vulnerable teenager going through the motions. She saw something in me since day one which enabled me to see that same potential later on. Studio 1551 was a safe haven for me and Mrs. Pickens largely had to do with that. It was where the crucial foundations of my art career were laid. Every detail of that room I can picture vividly. I was in that room as much as I could be! When I was exempt from midterms I would skip out on math class to be in the studio. I’ll never forget the last semester of senior year in AP art when we had to put together a presentation and rigorously plan 1 piece a week for 12 weeks. I had a meltdown because my art and brain didn’t work that way. In a lot of my art, there is little planning involved and I follow my heart and intuition, as cliché as that might sound. Mrs. Pickens accommodated for that and I was the first student she let in all of her years of teaching to go on with the concentration portfolio without a detailed game plan. I ended up creating a super moving body of work!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.litsch.art
• Instagram: @litsch.art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/litsch.art

Image Credits
Kailey Barnes Blake Bowles