Vivienne Strauss has been a full-time artist since 2008. While she is not formally trained as an artist, she has a background in philosophy, is an avid reader, cinephile and nature lover. Her time spent when not creating is sharing a life with husband and artist, Matte Stephens. They co-parent a household of pets, now including two cats and three dogs.

Unable to confine her expressions to a single medium, Strauss works in oils, watercolors, paper

and glue, needle and thread, digital photography and the typed word. She sells worldwide, and has shown in Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Los Angeles, CA; Tokyo, Japan; Manchester, UK; Portsmouth, NH; Peterborough, NH; Groton, MA; New York, NY; Nashville, TN;

Her work has been featured in:

The Observer/Guardian

Spirituality & Health Magazine

Home & Garden

House Beautiful/Turkey

Uppercase Magazine

NightBlock Magazine

The Jealous Curator

Brainpickings

Northern Woods Magazine

Collage Memory Game (produced in Germany for museum gift shops)

Indie Craft by Jo Waterhouse

Edgy Cute by Harry Sailor

Design Sponge

SF Girl by Bay

Craft Magazine

Martha Stewart

Book and CD covers:

The Weight of Love by Rusudan Rukhadze

Croque Monsieur by Ray Parnac

Femmes Contre Nature by Lea Godard

Kronkel’s by Simon Carmiggelt

The Great Escape - Andy Bilinski, musician

Some of her earlier bird collages were published in 2015 Little birds, big adventures

Patrons include:

International Center of Photography

Tim Walker, Vogue Photographer

Judd Apatow, Director/Producer/Comedian/Writer

Lesley Mann, Actress

Toni Collette, Actress

The Mindy Project

Most of my work is the product of allowing my mind wander- I find inspiration everywhere - in nature, in the books I read, the movies I watch and just allowing myself to be as silly as I please.

The first collage I created with birds in cars almost didn’t happen because it “didn’t make sense”. My mantra while I work now is “it doesn’t have to make sense” - because how boring would art be if it did? I never thought the birds in cars would become a recurring theme when I started - now I’ve created over 500 bird collages (not all of them include cars).

With collage work I try to keep my mind open and keep the process spontaneous. I generally try several layouts before committing to glue. I like working with vintage ephemera and magazines from the late 1800s up through the early 1970s. The majority of my work has a humorous quality and for the most part, I create a world I would like to inhabit rather than depicting the current time.

I love a play on words, I love improbable situations. The humans who show up in my work have a quirkiness that is hard to define. I don’t really “do” smiles on my human subjects, if I do, they are generally subtle and sardonic.

Vivienne's work can be viewed and purchased at www.viviennestrauss.com.

Pictured: She Was Given to Little Flights of Fancy

This episode was produced by Jack LeSIeur at the Downing Museum at Baker Arboretum, operated by the Jerry E. Baker Foundation, Inc.