Mimi von Litolff has been an award-winning Gallery
Artist for the past sixteen years. Her work has appeared in collections in New York, Palm
Beach, Atlanta,Albuquerque,Santa Fee, Taos, Houston, Naples, and Sanibel, Florida. For two
years running her “Medieval style” angels received top honors in “God in
The Arts”, Taos, NM, Peoples Choice, 1995 and First Runner Up, 1996. This Atlanta
native had her first art lesson at age five accompanying her mother, a painter, to art
lessons at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. By the age of eight, she was painting
in oils and taking lessons in painting and pottery. She continued her studies at the
Callenwald Art Institute, Abernathy Art Center, apprenticed with Caroline Guillia and
studied privately with John Berry, among others. Mimi has not limited herself to one
medium; but has found expression in painting, pottery, sculpture, furniture design,
decorative arts and writing.
Now known primarily for her paintings, Mimi is also an accomplished furniture designer. As
the co-owner of Zuma Woodworks, her trompe l’oeil cherub tables and people chairs
were featured for two years at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center, where she received
commissions from Atlanta’s leading interior designers and decorators including the
renowned Dan Carithers. She is best known for the decorative sets and furniture for
the annual Piedmont Ball and for the society fantasy weddings she created for him.
After moving to Taos, NM, in 1991, her focus changed to painting. Inspired by the
unusual surroundings and spiritual atmosphere, she started her series of gilded angels. To
get her luminous effects, she incorporates real gilding with copper, aluminum, silver
and/or 23 K gold leaf; techniques learned during her apprenticeship with Caroline Guillia
at the famous Shedd-Manning in Atlanta. Caroline Guillia is one of the foremost
restorers of fine murals and antiques in America and has worked throughout Europe
restoring and creating new murals and painted furniture. Mimi found restoring
ancient Chinese, Italian and French screens and furniture gave her the background and
technical expertise to go forward in creating her own style using these Old World
techniques.
Each of her fine art canvases is hand made so Mimi can crack it and sand it without
destroying it. She relies on leafing, painting and glazing to achieve her effects
which cannot be duplicated with paint alone. Her technique involves painting,
sealing, sizing, leafing, glazing, sealing, and painting any area that is in gold or
silver. While this is very labor intensive, she feels that she can not get the
quality she is seeking without using the “real thing.” Mimi often creates
her own frames in wood, steel or tin using the same procedure.
Her need to communicate and simplify complex ideas in an easy light manner comes from her
eight years as a marriage and drug counselor. Since Mimi finds it easier to
communicate visually she coupled her thoughts with illustrations. That practice
became her “Illustrated Thoughts” - little bits of wisdom wrapped in humor that
are easy to remember. Brush Dance Card Company published her couplets and
Angels in 1995 - 1996.
No matter what medium she has chosen for self expression: clay sculpture, paper collage,
custom painted furniture, oil and acrylic painting - gold and silver make their way into
the finished product. She identifies strongly with the language and allegories of
the Symbolist movement of the late 1900’s that incorporated story telling and symbols
into Art. For example, silver and gold are considered the male and female aspects of
spirit. This is the underlying principle of her current body of work
Each of her fine art paintings have a story to tell; an illustrated thought, if you would,
that comes from her dreams, visions and lessons in Life. The inspiration for
Mimi’s fine art paintings comes directly from her heart and soul. She meticulously
creates six to eight large Symbolist paintings a year taking months to finish each
one. Mimi works intuitively, sometimes working on two paintings at a time until her
vision coalesces and the story has been told.
Mimi von Litolff’s limited edition mixed media monoprint giclee’s are created
with as much attention to detail as her fine art paintings. Her inspiration coming
from the mind versus the soul as she subtly manipulates the images of her paintings to
create one of a kind prints. This intricate procedure starts with a professional
photograph of the original painting. The 4 X 5 color transparency is then printed on
200 lb. Watercolor paper with archival inks. Then Mimi continues the creative
process, overpainting, gilding and adding silver leaf to each print in the series,
slightly varying the effects to create unique originals. With her monoprints,
collectors can now own a Mimi
von Litolff original.
I have always been fascinated with art of all mediums. Growing up with an art teacher and philosopher for parents; I find it humorous that when I write, I want to paint pictures with words. And when I am working in the visual arts, I want to express concepts with my forms and colors. I have been writing on some of my paintings, taking this communication one step further; I hope, not detracting from the initial visual impression, but rather enriching it. I started a journal at fourteen to help clarify my thoughts and feelings. I still spend time each day journaling my thoughts, visions, dreams, observations, inspirations. At times condensing complex spiritual concepts into a simple couplet or visual representation. My painting is a journalizing process: autobiographical and intuitive at the same time. It is a manifestation of my inner being in an outer form - expressed almost subconsciously. The inspiration of each painting has spiritual roots expressing current themes in my life. Once I understand the key, I paint through my heart. This magical process just flows. For me, it is all about sharing self-discovery and wonder. And to wonder is “wonderful” is it not? That is what I do, at my best, make one stop the “race”, for a just a moment, and feel there is something here to notice. To wonder at, to ponder and just maybe, get a glimpse of this experience called living.
- Mimi von
Litolff