About the Artist

Meet Lisa Lightman

I started to make art in my mid-thirties.  I took a few adult education classes. One class changed everything.  Draw whatever you want, however you want.  I leaned toward abstraction.  It was liberating to make art that was generated by the myriad of emotions that floated on the surface of my life at that time.

How I make art has evolved slowly. The willingness to see colors and shapes in a landscape or on a kitchen counter, or feel a mood or emotion, all rendered through paints, pencils and other materials, are only a few of the infinite filters that land on the surface. I understand that each mark or color choice, or the final painting, is recognized as a moment in time not to be matched by any other moment in time.

My primary pull, as an artist, is to leave an emotional mark, an image or shape that is mysterious and curious, brings joy and beauty.  I create art that generates, for me, a feeling of wonder and awe, not unlike life itself.

Lisa lives and works in Petaluma, California.


Resume

Gallery Representation

  • M a d e Gallery, Stinson Beach, 2012 – 2022
  • Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2008 – 2009
  • SF MOMA Artist Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2007 – 2020
  • Aspen International Art, Aspen, CO, 2004 – 2006
  • Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA, 2002 – 2004, 2006
  • Nason-Williams Contemporary Art Objects, Taos, NM
    2000 – 2001
  • Gallery Zipp, Glorieta, NM, 2000 – 2001
  • Muse Image, Madrid, NM, 1999 – 2000
  • Elan Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 1998 – 1999

Commercial Representation

  • 1st Dibs e-commerce site 2022 –
  • Chairish, e-commerce site, 2022 –
  • Saatchi Art e-commerce site 2021 –
  • Cisco Home Design, September 2010
  • Suite Five Salon, 2009
  • SOMA Grand, May 2009
  • Vizcaya Design, 2009
  • Spaces, Staging and Design, 2008
  • Miriam’s Weaving Well, Santa Fe, NM, 2000 – 2001
  • The Store Different, Santa Fe, NM, 2000 – 2001

Solo Exhibitions

  • Octavia’s Haze, San Francisco, CA 2007
  • The Prudential, Sausalito, CA 2005
  • San Francisco Open Studios, 2002 – 2006, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022
  • Vernon Street Open Studios, Somerville, MA 1994 and 1995

Group Exhibitions

  • Gallery Route One, Pt. Reyes, CA 2023
  • Petaluma Arts Center, 2021, 2022
  • Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, CA 2018
  • Back to the Picture, Abstraction Show, November 2016
  • Pacific Art League, Faces and Figures, Honorable Mention, 2009
  • Slingshot Gallery, Berkeley, CA 2004
  • The Art Center at Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos, NM 1999
  • The Art Center at Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos, NM 1998
  • Center for Psychology and Social Change, Cambridge, MA 1994
  • The Erikson Center, Cambridge, MA 1992
  • Charles River Art Studio, Newton, MA 1991

Private Collections (partial list)

  • Linda Adams, Arlington, MA
  • Neil Broome, South Hadley, MA
  • Francine Byrne, Alameda, CA
  • Maureen Byrne, Alameda, CA
  • Eleni Carr, Newton, MA
  • Cynthia Caporizzo, San Francisco, CA
  • Peggy and Pete Cling, San Francisco, CA
  • Becca Foster and Michael Harris, San Francisco, CA
  • Janet Gracyk, Petaluma, CA
  • Peg Goldstein, Santa Fe, NM
  • Lianne Herzberg, San Francisco, CA
  • Michael Hogan, Point Richmond, CA
  • Keith Johnston, Santa Fe, NM
  • Melissa Levitt, San Francisco, CA
  • Verena Lukas, San Francisco, CA
  • Dragana Monson, Vallejo, CA
  • Elyse Napolitano, San Francisco, CA
  • Firouzeh Nourzad, Berkeley, CA
  • Monique Olivier, San Francisco, CA
  • Larry O’Toole, Andover, MA
  • Suzanne Parker, Monterey, CA
  • Alan and Carol Pomerantz, New York
  • Jo Ann Pottberg, San Francisco, CA
  • Anne Reinert, San Francisco, CA
  • Byron and Elizabeth Ryono, Los Altos, CA
  • Rita Sakkis, Moraga, CA
  • Judith Stakee, Los Angeles, CA
  • Emily Stone, Cambridge, MA
  • Sherry Suisman, San Francisco, CA
  • Lisa Tafori-Kim, San Francisco, CA
  • D’vora Tirschwell, San Francisco, CA
  • Julia Weber and Charlie Fineberg, San Francisco, CA
  • Sue and Chris White, Sausalito, CA

Awards

  • First Prize Winner at Contemporary Art ’98, a juried regional exhibition at the Art Center at Fuller Lodge Art Center, Los Alamos, NM (Stuart Ashman, juror, former Director of the Museum of Fine Arts at the Museum of New Mexico)

Other

  • SFMOMA, Museum Guide Public Program, 2016 –
    SECA award nomination, 2010. SECA is an auxiliary organization of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Public Lecture

  • Salon Ciel, April 2003

Selected Reviews

  • The Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, October 1998

Education

  • Hampshire College, BA
  • Tufts University, MA
  • San Francisco Center for the Book
  • Santa Fe Art Institute
  • Massachusetts College of Art
  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts
  • Rugg Road Paper and Printmaking