Louise Donahue: Spot On with the Scales

Louise Donahue is known for her sense of humor, as well as her fine artistry. When I sat down to interview Louise I knew I’d come away with two things, a good laugh, and an elucidating perspective on life.

“As you know I've been following your work for a long time now, and when I saw that you were starting to venture off into t-shirt design I couldn't help but wonder, why tee's?”

Louises’ signature smile appeared instantly and with the strength of her trademark square jaw she pointed her chin toward me, which over the years, I’ve come to know as the indicator of good conversation to come. After a pause she began, “That's an interesting question, I got the idea from seeing how commercial advertisers use our bodies to bring recognition to their products. They've even worked it so we pay! Pretty crafty.”

Her jaw less pointed now, begins to relax into her story as her process unfolds, “Well, my product is art. And humanity is the ultimate gallery. T-shirts are a dynamic canvas.”

Finding it difficult to argue with her premise. I immediately began wondering to myself what I was trying to express with my wardrobe/gallery. I have come to know it to be typical of Louise to draw meaning from otherwise overlooked mediums and subjects, but t-shirts? My interest was piqued. “Sounds like you've switched canvases. The body is now your canvas. Do you find it more challenging to create knowing that your work will be worn as opposed to hung on say, a gallery wall?”

For years Louise’s work has been premiered and placed on gallery walls, I couldn’t help but question how and why she chose to change her canvas.

But, as she explained, the body is more intimate and empowering, “Certainly, it makes it a more personal venue. The individual would be in a position to choose the art based on their desire to express what they want to say. Image T-shirts are a way of communicating graphically.”

Still pondering my choice of wardrobe for the day (a faded, bleach stained t-shirt that reads Italian Stallion), I couldn’t help but want to understand more of her philosophy. “How does designing T-shirts change the creative process for you?”

“The creative process probably isn't all that different in essence, regardless of the scope or format. At least for me, the subject is something I find fascinating, funny or meaningful and the art expresses my desire to share it with those who are sympathetic.”

One thing I have always enjoyed about Louise’s work is her ability to remain playful and sexy. “Certainly your designs will give a person the opportunity to express a sexual side of themselves?”

Louise’s classic grin returns at the mere mention of sex. I was hoping I was on to something, at worst, I had overshot the metaphor.

“If you watch lizards, you'll find they are really sexy and not bashful at all about being "voyeured!" They aren't all that different from us, they mirror us in a herpetological mini-cosmos."

Point taken. "One thing that remains a common thread in your designs is your affinity toward reptiles. What’s the reason for this particular pattern?”

“Oh my! Hmmmm, I've always lived in an environment where lizards flourish and I've enjoyed observing their behavior and often envied their simple existence. I tend to personify all animals and from an artist's perspective their simple physical form is an easy shape to draw (basically a tube, the same abstraction artist's use to layout the human figure) into anthro-postures. That allows me to dress them up for my little cartoon dramas and to humanize them. Frogs work the same way with a little balloon feature added around the middle.”

At this point I am relieved to know I’m not the only one who sees frogs as sexy, so I decided to pursure her process a bit further, "How do reptiles fit in with what we, humans, desire to express about our playful, sexual, characteristics?"

“Perhaps reptile behavior reminds us on some primordial level that basic instincts come before the thought process chronologically and we might benefit from suspension of the continual and cumbersome moral analysis of our motives. Just once and a while it might be a refreshing escape from reason. I guess, in a way, it's like returning to evolutionary infancy.”

As I’m listening to Louise explain, the lure of reptilian styled clothing becomes obvious, “So you could say your tees are a tease?”

Louise laughs. The poignancy of her square jaw appears again, this time accompanied by dimples, “I suppose so.”

“I've seen the bunny personified and turned into a global icon for sex. But a reptile or an amphibian? Never.”

“Yes, I guess they'd serve better as the before of a skin softener ad if you pictured your human self interacting with them sexually, "ouch" for sure. But if you were a lady lizard you might be appreciative of your lover's glorious display of unique jewelry.
If you look closely at a bluebelly each scale is an intricate mosaic of various interlocking colors. Stunning! Attractive.”

Wondering at this point if her new venture will allow for both sexes to enjoy the visual party I ask, “They (reptiles and amphibians) are also hunters and not merely prey. I think by choosing them as the subject of your tees you make them appealing to both sexes. As both men and women can identify with being hunted and being the hunter.”

“Yeah, the gender appeal must be in the eyes of the beholder but I personally tend to attribute masculine characteristics to lizards. To me they are all guys.”


“You mentioned evolution and looking at our reptilian brothers as sort of an analogy for our own sexual primordial infancy. Interesting. Do you think that people will use your lizards to project their own "animal" instincts?”

“Sure! Lounge Lizards…licensed for lascivious leering and licentious liberties!”

Redgirl brings characters to life. Animation by Andrea Ribeiro.

My low belly laugh punctuates her last sentence, Louise as much the wordsmith as the artist. I take a deep breath to maintain composure, “Well, all sexual puns aside is it fair to say that Science inspires your t-shirt art? What particular theories of Science most inspire your work?”

“Well, scientific inquiry certainly informs my curiosity and ups the ante on visual analogy. We can only understand what empirical data measures reliably and science speculates as to it's meaning; yet we can't see phenomenon directly. It sparks the imagination. Many artists explore science for just that reason. As far as favoring any particular science field, all are fascinating (except statistics) but epistemology always poses "the big question" that can never be answered. Now that's inspiring!”

See more of Louise Donahue's Reptile Art at: Partyclothesbrand.com



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