Potsdam art instructor builds a world you can touch, query, and dwell within
Potsdam native and adjunct instructor of art at SUNY Potsdam Liza Paige ’12 is hard at work on her next effort to make her audience pause and interact with an immersive art experience.
Set for reveal in the Lougheed Learning Commons in time for the 2024 LoKo Arts Festival starting May 1, the “2D Dorm Room” is an interactive optical illusion drawn entirely in outlines, with props chosen to help replicate the feeling of a college dormitory dwelling. The installation will invite participants to physically step into and become part of the display—whether sitting on the bed, typing at the desk, or trying on the Potsdam sweatshirt.
“Rather than the traditional ‘look, but don’t touch’ approach to viewing a 2D drawing on paper, the ‘2D Dorm Room’ welcomes the viewer into the drawn space and encourages interaction or dramatic play. The work will be void of color and shadow to help transfer the viewer into the uncanny space built solely of outlines.”
SUNY Potsdam Art Instructor
Paige has made her way forward in her creative career without holding back, pushing the envelope with edgy explorations of feminine themes ranging from self-expression and freedom to oppression, motherhood, greed, and compromise. Much of her work, rendered in charcoal and pastels on paper, echoes striking depictions from graphic novels, arresting the viewer and pulling them into deeper examinations of actors who are wrapped within and often bound to unfolding, universal narratives.
Heavily influenced by psychanalysis, film theory and unflinching honesty, Paige makes no bones about her work being conceived to disturb and provoke and to be, at times, ambiguous—forcing the viewer to confront inner paradigms and examine their own constructs. Her 2D depiction will be less edgy, but also cleverly designed to snare introspection.
“You, the viewer—perhaps now ‘participant’—will become the focal point of the work of art,” she explained. “You are the only bit of color within the space. I envision the ‘2D Dorm Room’ as a place for students to just exist within, relax, hang out with friends, read a book, or write a paper.”
The artist impulse runs in the family. While her mother, Romi Sebald ‘85, worked at the Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam, Paige wandered as a child among exhibits. Knowing she wanted to pursue a creative lifestyle, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Pre-Creative Arts Therapy. From there, Paige went on to graduate from the University at Buffalo in 2014 with a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies, then returned to share her visions with her hometown and alma mater.
“I want people to experience artistic culture that they may have better access to if they lived closer to the city,” she said. “Just because we live near wide open spaces doesn't mean we have to isolate ourselves from big art, ideas, and culture. We just need to welcome it, create it, and then take the time to go explore and experience it.”
Article by Bret Yager, Photos by Jason Hunter
