Jennifer Samet interviews painter Josephine Halvorson about her work.

Halvorson comments: "I’ve become interested in the notion of liveliness: the way that paintings are neither dead nor alive; they are neither living beings, nor inert materials, but exist in that space in between… Certain things catch my eye, calling out to me in some way. In that moment something real and palpable, private and psychological happens. The subject can be a catalyst for me to realize a painting that I may have subconsciously wanted to make, but haven’t yet realized. Often it’s not until I make the painting that I see it and think, 'That’s because I once saw a Matisse painting and thought I wanted to use that kind of pink.' Those experiences in life are subtle. Suddenly, you find yourself making a painting and it contains what you felt for another piece of art, or an experience, or a person."