Hello, I’m Lillian Bolster and I’m an artist. I’ve been making since I was old enough to be allowed by my parents to finger paint. Making art has always been what makes me come alive. Along the way some creative outlets have worked better than others. When I took scissors to my bangs at the age 6 didn’t work out so well but other stuff has.
The first time I made any money off of a piece of my “art” was when I was ten and I got my dad and a neighbor to pay ten cents a piece to view a “sculpture” that I’d made in the backyard, it was some sticks and other stuff that I found lying around our yard that I’d artfully arranged together. Since then, I’ve kept creating and my art has evolved from there.
After graduating from college with a BA in art, with an emphasis in ceramics I moved back home to start an art career. I joined a cooperative studio for ceramics and continued to build up my skill working in clay. I built up skill and craftsmanship through continual practice.
Now, I paint, I draw, I make sculpture and pottery out of clay. Each medium that I work in influences the other. My art comes in different forms- painting and drawing on paper, a ceramic mug that I carve into, a bowl that I add texture to using stamps and lace, or clay that I turn into a sculpture. Not everyone defines all of that as Art with an capital A, but I do.
Over the years I have kept feeding my creative curiosity by taking classes in different mediums such as bookbinding, marbeling paper, cyanotype.
I probably feel the same way when I create now as I did when I wa a kid, which is what has kept me creating through childhood and into adulthood. I think that if you ask any professional artist what drives them to keep creating that they will say their own version of how the creative process makes them feel and how creating is an extension of how they voice what is inside their mind and heart.