Halie Torris: Featured Artist
Before we get into our featured artist for May, I need to get something off my chest. Recently, there has been a trend on TikTok that I hate. The idea is that you can take any photo from your camera roll and turn it into cover art. It’s great marketing for the PicsArt app (kudos to you, marketing team), but I hate the messaging that these covers are ‘quality’. It’s propagating the notion that slapping a filter on any photo makes it special and cover-worthy. True artists know the detail and passion that goes into every piece of art. Take the cover art for Quiet’s track “Bienvenue” for example…
For this cover and Lyn Starr’s “Garden”, Halie Torris created the pieces in Photoshop and digitally painted the images. When we asked about her process, she said, “I wanted there to be a surreal-airy-like quality to both pieces. I value simplicity in my digital art and creating natural compositions that can lure the viewer in and allow them to contemplate.” Obviously, there is so much that goes into making high-quality art and I have a hard time even beginning to comprehend the vision and imagination one must have to create beauty from a blank canvas. So I figured now would be the perfect time to feature the multi-talented artist behind these covers and MUCH more.
Halie Torris is a contemporary artist creating large-scale figurative paintings. Her works are narrative and surreal – focusing on women empowerment, self-love and feminine energy. Her goal is to create a voice and representation in the fine arts for women to love who they love and accept themselves. Recently, she began working on a new series inspired by music. Specifically, Taylor Swift's new album evermore that released on December 11, 2020. Each oil painting is narrative and has a hidden storyline with a secret meaning!
The first painting from this series that I saw was “right where you left me”. The oil painting features a woman sitting at a dinner table with a shattered and spilling wine glass. I was drawn into the painting immediately and it’s still my favorite in the series. Spend some time with this and see what meaning and emotion you pull from it. This is just 1 of the 7 evermore inspired paintings!
Halie’s social media following has soared recently. Recently, Halie passed 10k followers on Instagram and 26k followers on TikTok, both platforms that are perfect to feature the music inspired series that she is currently working on. Make sure you go follow her on both Instagram and TikTok and stay tuned for painting reveals on TikTok. She told us that there will be a large painting reveal during the month of May.
If you’ve fallen in love with Halie’s paintings, she is currently selling prints of them on her website www.halietorris.com/store
In addition to this, she is creating videos sharing her personal story as well as a video course for other artists to develop confidence in sharing their voices through video!
TikTok: halietorris
Thank you for reading.
- Ryan
Do you want to be featured as our next Featured Artist? This monthly series will dive into Pittsburgh art and bring recognition to some of the hardest working, most inspired talents in Pittsburgh. No matter your artistic medium, send us an email at contact@highfivemusic.co so we know about the work you are doing to grow Pittsburgh's already incredible artistry.