Valisa Higman’s artwork is inspired by a deep connection to both her natural surroundings and her community.
She has always enjoyed playing with knives and scissors; and she grew up watching her mom hand-cut silk-screens and her dad carve intricate images in wood. Seeing the possibilities, she combined her background in drawing and her love of bold saturated colors with the medium of cut-paper.
Starting with a single sheet of black paper, Valisa Higman carves away at the background using an X-Acto knife, and her images are revealed in an intricate lacework of lines. Using the black as her foreground, she fills the negative space by piecing together layers of paper in vibrant colors and textures. As a finishing touch, she adds the last details and shading with watercolor and other paints.
This piece celebrates the bounty of our bays and lagoons, but the halo around the woman’s head represents the halo of gnats that often accompany the harvest. It is a reminder of taking the bad with the good. By Valisa Higman. 
Black currants put on spectacular colors in the fall. This piece was inspired by their grape-like charm and the amusing antics of cheeky magpies. By Valisa Higman.
Born and raised in Seldovia, Valisa began developing her technique in high school.
“Seldovia is full of all the things that make my artist gears turn,” she says. “I was raised in a magical world of moonlit skiff rides, sap-kneed tree climbs, and low-tide treasure hunts. My body and my art were nourished by clams dug from the beach in front of our house, blueberries and salmonberries picked in the woods behind, king crab kept alive in a tidal bathtub under my dad’s shop, and community potlucks where everyone shared their richest most signature dishes. It was a spruce-needles-in-your-boots kind of life, with a little beach gravel and garden soil thrown in.”
Part of my Alaskan Fairy Tale series, this piece shows Little Red rowing through a kelp forest to Granny’s house. Looming underneath is the wolf of the sea in Granny’s bonnet. My studio is located up the bay from Seldovia, and I commute by rowboat, so this is a juxtaposition of the fairy tale and my day-to-day life. Art by Valisa Higman. 
Another piece from my Alaskan Fairy Tale series, inspired by three bears (a mom and two cubs) that broke into my neighbor’s yurt. By Valisa Higman. 
One of a three-part series for the Unalaska Library. This was the first of my Alaskan Fairy Tales and was an Alaskan version of the Little Mermaid. The border shows ocean creatures from around Unalaska Island. By Valisa Higman.
In 2012, Valisa opened a studio in her dad’s old woodshop on the bay in Seldovia.
Ever the adventurer, she commutes the short distance from town in a locally built rowboat, making friends with the resident otters and seeing something new and interesting every day. “I’ve learned there’s a common emotional thread that ties people together. My art has become a way of grasping that thread and sharing a momentary closeness with the viewer. When I reflect on how art functions in my life, I see it as both an avenue for storytelling and as a tool for shifting an everyday moment to something singularly beautiful.”
This piece was made for a label for Sweetgale Meadworks in Homer for their sweetgale mead. It is inspired by the marshy wetlands around Homer. By Valisa Higman. 
This piece was commissioned by the family of a local elder who passed away. I loved seeing his hands busy splicing lines and focused on that for this piece. For me it was a reminder of all the skills we learn from our elders. Artwork by Valisa Higman. 
One of my favorite pastimes in Seldovia is exploring the intertidal zone. The colors and patterns in the tidepools and rocks are always inspiring. By Valisa HIgman.
In addition to regular art shows and selling prints and other merchandise, Valisa has illustrated a children’s book for Sasquatch Publishing, written by Seldovia author Erin McKittrick titled, My Coyote Nose and Ptarmigan Toes.
Follow her work at facebook.com/artbyvalisa or on Instagram @valisahigman. Purchase her art at etsy.com/shop/artbyvalisa.
Comments are closed.