By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.
On Sunday July 2, island-dwelling surrealism artist Audrey Brown, the face of A. Lorissa Art, opened up the doors to her one-of-a-kind art gallery on South Padre. Featuring the work of three different artists, Audrey Lorissa Gallery is located at 105 East Amberjack Street, Suite A, and it’s open for the enjoyment of the community daily.
“I have always been an artist,” said Brown.
Brown was born and raised in Dallas Texas. As one of four children, she describes her family as “tight-knit.” Living a “happy and active” childhood, she was into sports and played competitive soccer, which would eventually land her a full-ride scholarship to university. From the time she could write, she always had a notebook and pencil in hand. She drew constantly, according to Brown, who reminisced on even doodling through church. Brown says she filled hundreds of notebooks with her art growing up, illustrating mostly people and sometimes drawing the same person over and over again. Her mother took notice of her artistic talent and her parents began enrolling her in private art classes.
During high school, from her sophomore year until her senior year, she was enrolled in AP art classes. In 2009, Brown, using her full-ride scholarship, earned her Bachelors degree in fine arts with a concentration on drawing and painting from McNeese State University [MSU] in Louisiana. According to Brown, MSU was the “perfect” school for her because it was small and employed “fantastic” professors of art who built her to be “gifted” by developing her skills as an artist through thorough education.
“It was truly an experience,” said Brown.
During her senior year at MSU she began creating an inner-self portrait series illustrating her spirit and subconsciousness. She developed an interest in the ideas of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud and became immersed in the inspirations of psychology and incorporated this into her work. Brown says that when she completed this series is when she truly became an artist.
“I really like to tap into that dream world and that subconscious mind where you can go into different dimensions and get in touch with your spirituality,” described Brown. “That’s my method of creating.”
Upon graduation, she returned home to Dallas, Texas, and met her husband, a real estate broker. Together they lived in Allen, Texas, and worked in the real estate business for a while before relocating to South Padre Island in January 2021.
“I love the beach. I love the water. I love the ocean,” said Brown. “I didn’t want to do the city life anymore…I’m not looking back…[SPI] is pretty much my forever home.”
In February of 2022, Brown joined the Art Business Incubator South Padre Island [ABISPI], an island-side institution full of opportunity dedicated to training artists for success in the world of art-business, with the mission of making SPI an art-destination. For the majority of Brown’s tenure at ABISPI, Deanna Lynn Powell was the director.
“During Audrey’s time at ABI, it became quite obvious that not only did her art resonate deeply with people, but Audrey herself did as well. Art isn’t just what she creates, it’s how she lives! Plus, it was very apparent very quickly that Audrey had something that you simply cannot teach someone: a fiery ambition to achieve her goals,” stated Powell.
For one year, ABISPI showed Brown how to turn her art into a reliable source of income by providing the skills and tools she needed to be able to “test the waters” of art business. Taking provided business classes, teaching her own art classes and being able to sell her art in ABISPI’s gallery, she found this opportunity to grow extremely helpful.
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