Circular multicolored mosaics inspired by mosaics in Barcelona. Pictured are Barcelona Butterflies and Flowers, Gaudi Reptile and Managed Chaos.

UH Professor Finds Creative Expression As A Paper Artist

Lindsay Schwarz in Barcelona, Spain.

By Cheryl Alexander

Most people in Houston know Lindsay Schwarz as an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Houston. In this role, Lindsay has enjoyed great success and won numerous awards, including the Teaching Excellence Award from the Rho Chi Honorary Society (the National Pharmacy Honorary Society) and the University Teaching Excellence award. But when she’s not in the lecture hall or laboratory developing future healers and demonstrating the importance of intellectual achievements, she can be found in her art studio exercising the other hemisphere of her brain — her creative side.

“I have been creating some kind of art since I can remember,” Lindsay said. Her mother was a formally trained artist (Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, Maryland; MIA-B) who also taught Saturday school for the MIA-B and took Lindsay to the facility where a variety of classes took place.

At these classes, Lindsay had training in fashion design, oil painting, watercolor, tempera and materials art. Additionally, their basement in Baltimore was one large art supply warehouse, as her mother had watercolors, pastels, oil paints, clay, stone, wood and still life components (gourds, bottles, model fruit and fabric) for her own career.

However, Lindsay discovered that it was tough to have more than one artist in the house so she abandoned any artistic endeavors until her 50s. Her art now couldn’t be more different than the art she created as a young girl. Now, Lindsay’s art is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. And her medium? She uses a variety of paper that comes from all sorts of places.

“My first collage was really by accident,” she said. “The kids brought home some beautiful handmade paper from a local craft store and I made some small cards, papier-mâché boxes and note pads that I gave to friends as gifts.”

All parts of Lindsay’s mosaics and collages are created with sharp scissors, white craft glue and handmade or other types of paper from all over the world. Some of the paper she has collected from her travels and some comes from friends who gift the paper to her in hopes of receiving some of it back in the form of her art.

Usually her designs are made up along the way.

“I rarely have a message in mind when I create,” Lindsay said. “It’s more about color and texture, and I derive inspiration from everywhere — on a pattern made by pecan tree seeds in a parking lot, from the cocoa in the bottom of a mocha or the clouds in the different places I travel.”

Last year, she and her husband traveled to Barcelona, Spain where she was inspired by the mosaics of architect Antoni Gaudi.

“I now have a Barcelona series in various colors and textures,” she said. “My husband bought a bag of old Spanish coins at a flea market and asked, ‘Could you do your paper art on these?’ I loved this idea, so I also created a small collection of ‘celestial pendants.’ ”

Birds and butterflies, too, are a source of inspiration. Lindsay likes that she can explore the feathers and wings with handmade marble paper or other paper with lots of texture. Beyond that, she’s got a dragon project she is developing “partly because I have two grandsons. Birds, dragons, fanciful dinosaurs… I see a theme here.”

She also enjoys crafting landscapes with trees and other details that offer an opportunity to develop layers with a variety of shapes, colors and depths.

As Lindsay experiments with different ideas in her art, she’s learned some valuable lessons such as letting go of rigidity and being open to trying anything. “Try lots of texture and colors,” she said. “And use unexpected items to accomplish a piece. But then, don’t overwork. Put your work aside and let it breathe before calling it done.”

Though most of her work is created in her spare time as a hobby, Lindsay does accept commissions.

“I was commissioned recently to do wedding invitations,” she said. “One was a houseboat scene with the Seattle skyline in the back and the other was of a heart carved in a redwood tree. A labor of love, for love.”

Lindsay’s future plans include expanding her art to include shows, more collections and commissioned work. Her mission to date is to enjoy creating mostly for those she loves.

“I’m not opposed to expanding this mission,” she said, “and I have yet to have a formal show, other than my newly launched website.”

Because Lindsay’s art has primarily been a hobby and because she only started to create her collages in her mid-50s, she’s really just getting started.

“I guess my most important ‘show’ is the art I made for my grandsons’ bedrooms,” she said. “And honestly, how much better could it get than that?”

Visit linsieswhimsies.com to learn more about Lindsay and her art.

Wedding Cake. A notebook designed as a place for to-be-wed friends to keep all their notes in one place.

Genevieve, the Pink and Blue Striped Cat is made of papier-mâché and covered in silk-screened paper.

Snowy Owl on a Snowy Night. The owl’s wings of this 4×6-inch journal are Italian marbled paper.

Ruby Red Poppies is a papier-mâché box completely covered in handmade paper.

Kensington Park. The background is silk-screened paper bought in a favorite paper store in Oakland, California.

Elephant in the Sun is a 4×6-inch journal covered with handmade paper.

Dragonfly. Woven paper background and handmade paper with leaves: The woven mat is cut strips of paper woven together much like fabric. The dragonfly is mounted with a flexible gilt on black wire.

Christmas in the Texas Gulf Coast was created with handmade paper mounted on watercolor paper.

Letting Go. Mixed medium of watercolor and paper collage.