Laurence Sisson

1928 - 2015

Sisson, Laurence

American Artist,

Laurence Sisson

(1928-2015)





Laurence P. Sisson, an artist who pursued a professional career spanning 72 years, dies at age 87 at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Laurence (Lonnie) Sisson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, April 27, 1928. and from age 15 became a professional artist, renown from Boston to Maine. His landscapes and seascapes were inspired by the scenic coastline of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where Sisson grew up. Admire for his depictions of coastal shores, opalescent pebbles and crashing waves, Sisson was a Master watercolorist and oil painter, expanding to the Desert Southwest in 1979 with his relocation to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2012 the Santa Fe Rotary Club honored Sisson with the 2012 Artist of the Year Award and the Rotarian International Award For Fine Art. Sisson became the first living artist to exhibit at the Vose Gallery in Boston, America's oldest art gallery and the leader in Americana paintings from the 18th and 19th Century. Sisson is included in the permanent collections of eighteen American museums, including: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, New Britain Museum, Portland Museum, Worcester Museum, Cincinnati Museum, Albuquerque Museum, Berkshire Museum, The Farnsworth Art Museum and Columbia Museum of Fine Arts. In 2010, the New Britain Museum, New Britain, Connecticut included two watercolors by Sisson in their exhibition, The Great American Watercolor, featuring the best 110 watercolors from their extensive historic collection of America's finest artists. Sisson was the only living artist in the exhibition. Documentary film maker Mark Gordon completed the 2011 filming and narrative, In Studio LAURENCE SISSON, the project was immediately pickup by PBS in Albuquerque and distributed to PBS affiliates all over America, Canada and Europe. Sisson was already an accomplished artist by age 20 and collected in New England, specifically Boston and Maine. By 1951 Forbes Magazine, Fortune, selected one of his paintings for their March, 1951 cover. At the 1964 World's Fair, Sisson did a public demonstration for RCA in their Pavilion, where they introduced their new color television to the world. That was his only public demonstration for 51 years, until February 20, 2015, when he demonstrated watercolor painting for the Fine Arts Painting Club at their new Quail Creek Fine Arts Center in Tucson, Arizona. Sisson has produced more than fifty One-Man Exhihibitions and has been the focus of more than twenty magazine articles. His work is reviewed and discussed in a dozen book publications, including the new Tales of an Art Dealer, The History of Vose Galleries Boston, Robert C. Vose Jr.; where he is also pictured.



No matter how many times Laurence Sisson paints the landscape he loves and cherishes, each painting takes on it's own individual personality. Every observation of the surging tides and rhythmic waves that pound against the Maine coast or the expansive desert floor of northern New Mexico is a fresh and vibrant experience that excites his imagination and fuels his aesthetic drive. Within each painting is the element of 72 years of painting experience. Laurence Sisson is survived by his wife Judy Sisson; son Mark Sisson, daughter-in-law Carrie, grandson Kyle, granddaughter, Devyn of Malibu, California; Daughter Kerry (Kirtana) of Felton, California; son, David of Palo Alto, California; son, Derek Phoenix of Melbourne, Florida. He is also survived by his brother, Foster Sisson and his wife Rosalia of Boonville, MO; his sister, Dr. Ruth Sisson of Thomasville, GA; and cousin, Robert Freeman of Austin, TX. Special thanks to Dana Shock of Hospice of New Mexico and longtime friend and doctor, Dr. Mark Unverzagt.

Memorial donations may be made to New Mexico Boys and Girls Ranches, P. O. Box 9, Belen, NM 87002-009. As per his request, there will be no services and his ashes will be scattered across the landscapes that he painted for over 80 years. So when you next see a perfect sunset or a wave washing ashore bringing gifts from the sea, please pause to reflect on this man and what he shared with all of us. Please visit our online guestbook for Laurence at www.FrenchFunerals.com.

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