Contact the Artist

Lisa Mack
E-mail:
[email protected]

Lisa Mack was born in 1962 in Pasadena, California. She earned a Bachelor of Studio Arts degree from California State University, SB in 1992 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Central Washington University in 1998. Mack has won numerous awards in juried exhibitions in the states of Washington, California and Nevada, where she currently resides. For the past twelve years she has been teaching courses at the College of Southern Nevada as well as workshops and private lessons. Although she has worked in a variety of mediums, acrylic and charcoal are currently her main emphasis. Throughout her development, the works of Roberto Matta, Dorothea Tanning and J.M.W. Turner have been particularly inspiring.

Lisa Mack's studio is currently located just north of San Antonio, Texas in the hill country. Private lessons are arranged by appointment. Studio visits are welcome. If you have questions, call Lisa at +1 (505) 715-0014.


Artist Statement

By working on two-dimensional surfaces, I can shift between the portrayal of illusionary space and an emphasis on flat surface. This process echoes the vacillation within my consciousness: my experience of reality co-exists with doubt. I attempt to express tension between the material and the ethereal, a result of the human quest for understanding in spite of the opacity of reality. My art attempts to scratch at the surface hiding the secrets of this reality, a surface rendering it impenetrable to the human consciousness. This approach results in a form of visual vertigo: both spatial illusion and painterly expression congeal to reinvent the surface of the canvas.

My body of work has allowed me to reflect upon the ambiguous nature of time and its effect on my perception of mortality. By emphasizing the fleeting quality of life, many topics have risen to the surface. These topics include the imposition of our psychological control mechanisms such as escapism, ritualism, and religion. Symbols of control mechanisms are juxtaposed against incomprehensible voids and skeletal reminders of our mortality. As space becomes matter and objects appear as facades floating in the abyss of ignorance, we can contemplate our inability to scratch through the surface and experience our longing for reality within a corresponding representation of it. Perhaps we will remain grid locked within our rituals and never experience breaking through the surface, reaching the core and discovering nothingness.

Biographical Information

Education:
  • Painting and drawing studio, University of New Mexico, 1990-91
  • Undergraduate degree: BA, California State University San Bernardino, 1992
  • Graduate degree: MFA, Central Washington Universtiy, 1998
Awards and Scholarships:
  • Harold A. Thayer Memorial Award, Washington, 1997
  • Catherine Moe Full Scholarship, CWU, Washington, 1997-1998
  • Excellence in Drawing Award, Washington, 1998
  • Second Place Drawing Award, Las Vegas Art Museum, 1999
  • First Place Drawing Award, Las Vegas Art Museum, 1999
  • First Place Mixed Media Award, Las Vegas Art Museum, 2000
Graduate Assistantships:
  • Central Washington University, 1997
  • Central Washington University, 1998
Professional Experience:
  • Instructed Drawing 150 and 250, Central Washington University, 1997
  • Instructed Outdoor Art Studio 498, CWU, emphasis on mixed media, 1998
  • Art juror for Manashtash publication, 1997
  • Adjunct instructor, College of So. Nevada, Art 101, 1999-2002
  • Adjunct instructor, College of So. Nevada, Art 235, 1999-2000
  • Instructed Color Theory and, Intermediate Painting, CSN, 2001 – present.
Grants:
  • Artist in Residence recipient, Clark County School District Workshop for “at-risk” youths at Horizon East High School, 2000
  • Art in Residence recipient, Clark County, School District Workshop, 2001
Residencies:
  • Hungarian Multi-cultural Exchange Residency, Balatonfured, Hungary, 2003
Exhibitions:
  • Juried exhibition, San Bernardino County Museum, 1992
  • Juried exhibition, Lake Arrowhead Arts Council, 1992
  • Juried exhibition, Everett Arts Gallery, 1995
  • Two-person show, Everett Arts Gallery, 1996
  • Juried exhibition, Larson Gallery 41st Annual Invitational, 1996
  • Juried exhibition, Larson Gallery 42st Annual Invitational, 1997
  • Juried exhibition, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, 1997
  • Solo exhibition, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, 1998
  • Juried exhibition, Las Vegas Art Museum, 1998
  • Juried exhibition, Eastern Sierra Art Foundation, 1999
  • Juried exhibition, Las Vegas Art Museum, 1999
  • Juried exhibition, Las Vegas Art Museum, 2000
  • Faculty exhibition, College of Southern Nevada, 2001
  • Faculty exhibition CSN, 2003
  • Las Vegas Art Museum – Three person special exhibit, 2003
  • Studio 567, Solo and group exhibition, 2003
  • Art East Gallery, Balantonfured-Hungary, 2003
  • Vizivarosi Gallery, Budapest-Hungary, exhibit 2004