Louisa Bertman on ‘Permission to Fail’

We were delighted to hear that some MFAVN family have work included in the Mount Ida College gallery show titled Permission to Fail. “Permission to fail” is a refrain that bears repeating (as refrains tend to do)… failing is how we grow as artists. We can’t tell a good story until we tell several hundred bad ones.

Louisa Bertman is among the artists included in the show which runs from October 19, 2015 through January 26, 2016. She graduated from our program this year, a member of the 2015 inaugural class! Her work is likely familiar, with stints on Village Voice and Washington Post recently (see the slideshow for some peeks at that work).

As Louisa celebrates her successes we asked her to tell us a little bit about failing!

What does “permission to fail” mean to you?
Permission to fail means sharing my initial sketches (aka a glipse into my brain) before they’re fine tuned and knowing that most of them most definitely will and should get killed — a fast death.

Can you give us an example of your best failure?
In terms of pertaining to this show, my Village Voice Queer Issue covers are a great example. Initially, I came up with all sorts of intricate all over the place ideas. Luckily — AD Tom Carlson “kindly” persuaded me to simplify. The end result captured the true essence….=Love.

Here are some samples of Louisa’s fantastic work.