The Life of Objects with Painter Gwen Strahle

Gwen Strahle is a painter living and working in northeast CT. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. She shows her work at Nancy Devine Gallery in RI. Strahle has received several awards including the Connecticut Artist Fellowship, the Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorarium from the Drawing Center. Strahle earned her MFA from Yale University in 1983. "I have been making paintings of objects arranged on my studio table for over forty years. Many of the objects in my work have been with me for the entirety of that time. The objects are painted both from life and from memory: bud vases, shells, pitchers, and glasses. Each of these objects is a kind of vessel, and I often think about what is inside of an object- the fullness of something empty in appearance. The objects are personified in the paintings, and I have become emotionally invested in them; they are part of my family. Over the years, they have changed and aged with me as I paint them into each image. I have created a hierarchy of icons using these familiar objects that can grow and change depending on their arrangement from one painting to the next. That dynamic relationship between objects is important to me. The covered table under the set-up serves as the canvas, or as the painting itself. Its flat surface is raised up for the viewer, with the malleability of a blank slate that allows objects to emerge from and be pushed back into the surface of the table—like a garden bed. It represents the painted world in which my objects can exist. Twenty years ago, I began to add my own silhouette to the paintings, which has recently turned into a shadow, and it presides over the still-life, and is in turn embraced by it. It made sense for that figure to be my own body, or my own shadow, as I am the one experiencing my relationship to the still-life, with these objects. This transparent form can dissolve across the objects and the table. My process involves moving the objects around the image, eliminating and adding as I work through each painting. My paintings come together slowly, sometimes over the course of months or years before I find resolution in the composition. In the practice of painting, I seek the feeling of being present in the world. The slowness allows for this." LINKS: gwenstrahle.com @gwenpaints I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Taxes for Humans is the clearest, kindest, funniest tax book you've ever read. It's as generous as you are. Pre-Order by Nov 11 to get a discount AND instant access to Hannah's course. Go to sunlighttax.com/bonus If you have questions about: Estimated quarterly taxes Deductions Business setup steps (making it "official") LLCs Bookkeeping Getting and staying organized Getting out of a jam (payment plans, tax-cheating spouses, etc) Getting a lot more money from tax savings This book is your answer key. Uplifting, practical, and tax-deductible. A companion to the book, the WORKBOOK covers mindset exercises, clears mental blocks, and applies the knowledge you learned in the book.It has the best tax organizer you've ever seen (for actually organizing your tax info at tax time). Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15: Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

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The Life of Objects with Painter Gwen Strahle is an episode from I Like Your Work by Erika b Hess.

This episode is 42:54 long.

This episode was published on Nov 7, 2025.

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