10 Questions with Elissa Morley

Above: ELISSA MORLEY, Delights I. Watercolor on layered paper, 27 x 34 inches

1. What is your favorite article of clothing? 

I’ve always been a dress girl.  When I was about five, I used to take my favorite dress, one that my mom made for me, out of the dirty laundry and try to wear it again and again.  

2. What do you like to listen to while working in your studio?

Many things: jazz, folk, rock, pop, bossa-nova, hip-hop, funk, EDM, but lately the composer Arvo Part and audiobooks.  Sometimes the best companion, though, is silence.  

3. Do you have any pets?  

Not at the moment. However, my husband and I hope to own a home someday and have a standard poodle or golden doodle to accompany me on my trail runs.  I grew up with a standard poodle who had a wonderful personality. 

4. What is something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t tried yet?

So many things... but to name a few: Flamenco dancing, fluency in three or more languages, swimming with dolphins and wind-surfing

5. If you could meet up with any celebrity for coffee, who would you choose?  

Definitely Arvo Part the Estonian composer.  I have so many questions to ask him! He seems very wise and grandfatherly in his interviews.  

6. Do you think dreams have hidden meanings?

Dreams do seem very significant, especially if you still remember them after you wake up.  I was advised by a friend to try to remember how I felt at every part of such dreams. This will give you a clue as to its meaning.  It works!  I also read a book by Pavel Florensky about the mysterious nature of time and space in dreams and how they connect to our waking life.  So fascinating!

7. If you could have one superhero power, what would it be?  

Flight…it’s always flight.  

8. Do you collect anything?  

Yes: Feathers, insects, seashells, books, vintage clothing and vinyl. 

9. What is your favorite [book, movie, or television show]?

Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space means a great many things to many different people.  For those who don’t know about it:  It’s such a delicious blend of literature and philosophy…the phenomenology of domestic spaces.  There’s something mysteriously healing about it.  Also, Wounded by Love by Elder Porphyrios…a deceptively simple and challenging book on spirituality, in the way that the Tao de Ching is deceptively simple…but different.

10. What would be the title of your memoir?   

Something to do with “Mystery”…maybe… “Concealment and Revelation”?