Halie Torris is a contemporary artist working mainly in oils. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Seton Hill University where she majored in graphic design. Six months upon graduating from college and receiving her first design job, Halie picked up and moved to the eastern shore of Maryland. After spending most of her life living in the same place, she felt a draw towards the ocean and a change of scenery to further develop her work.
Halie soon experienced a spiritual awakening that shifted her ideas and concepts towards the subconscious mind and inner stillness. In 2020, she openly accepted her sexuality and publicly posted about the influence that being a part of the LGBTQ community has had on her self-acceptance and her art. Currently, she is creating a body of work that resonates with human equality, women empowerment, and inner stillness.
Artist Statement
My body of work is a collection of fragments from my daily experiences of living as a young LGBTQ, female artist today. My painting process is linked to my spiritual practices and my growing creative discipline. The experiences that I draw from are related to LGBTQ issues, women empowerment, protection of mother nature and self-awareness/consciousness. My ever-growing connection to self-awareness has led to the minimization of my ego during painting and channeling the greater collective consciousness.
Initially, my painting process is triggered by emotions and a reaction to an event or through my daily meditations. Through meditation, my feelings are equalized and balanced until a common truth is reached – which is then portrayed through the painting. My work with oils has changed over time, evolving from spur-of-the-moment type of inspiration into a more structured, daily discipline. Highly detailed, structured elements paired with free-flowing brush strokes creates a visual language that mimics that of my growing development as an artist. Each piece possesses a narrative that can be experienced by the viewer themselves. The emotions that are harbored upon viewing one of my paintings is intended to reflect the viewer’s own internal consciousness.
