From Birth to Rainbows
Graphite and pastel on paper.
The. Time Capsule Project 2072, The Factory, St. Pete, FL
The Brooklyn Sketchbook Project & Colossal , St. Pete, FL - 2022
FROM BIRTH TO RAINBOWS
From Birth to Rainbows is a narrative portrait series dedicated with love to my daughter Astra and all who bravely live as their beautiful selves; despite mass oppression and misunderstanding of transgender and all non-conforming. identities.
Graphite and pastel on paper.
The. Time Capsule Project 2072, The Factory, St. Pete, FL
The Brooklyn Sketchbook Project & Colossal , St. Pete, FL - 2022
FROM BIRTH TO RAINBOWS
From Birth to Rainbows is a narrative portrait series dedicated with love to my daughter Astra and all who bravely live as their beautiful selves; despite mass oppression and misunderstanding of transgender and all non-conforming. identities.
Transcript, Remnant, & Rendition |Paper Flowers (multi-media works on paper)
Color reduction woodcut, digital print, graphite, and collage on paper
Biennial Faculty Exhibition,
UWL Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, WI. 2021
PAPER FLOWERS, WORKS FOR FACULTY EXHIBITION
During the Covid-19 pandemic my mode expression became collage. Much like the Dadaists, it was a way for me to confront and make sense of unsettling narratives as well as play in new ideas. The three works on paper in this Faculty Exhibition explore disintegrating pattern as metaphors of disruption through investigations combining woodblock and collage. In all three works the central imagery, roses, were chosen and worked up in color-reduction woodcut for their associations and meanings in popular culture and to embody human vulnerabilities such as emotion, life, love, and fragility. These woodcut prints were cut, copied, and recopied using an inkjet printer to expand on ideas related to replication, pattern, decoration, and mass production.
Printed wall coverings from several decades of the past were part of my childhood and find themselves in my dreams and subconscious. The larger work, Remnant, was shaped by my generational memory of hand printed and machine patterned wall coverings. In this work, woodcut printed and inkjet copied roses, collaged upside down, appear to be hovering and shifting from greyscale to color as they fall out of place into a piled disarray. From the initial sketches to completion of Remnant, I often thought of Rene Magritte’s 1953 painting, Golconda (in which men in overcoats and bowler hats appear to be hovering in an urban scene). One of the initial concepts behind Remnant investigated “what if” questions such as, “what if the wallpaper patterns fell off the wall?”
Rendition, one of the two smaller works experiments with socially motivated departures of patterning. In, Rendition, woodcut-reduction printed, inkjet copied, and advertisement-appropriated rose forms move directionally into disarray. New narratives form through a shifting of patterning and imagery as if in conversation with works by Dadaists Schwitters or Höch.
Transcript, the second of the two smaller works explores manipulation of pattern through collage into an evolved singular, surreal form. In, Transcript, a drawing was made based on an inkjet copy of one of the woodcut color-reduction prints and then made into more inkjet copies, which were systematically cut and reassembled; transforming pattern into a purposefully manufactured entity made anew. While working on Rendition, I often thought of forms made by the artist, Lee Bontecou in which she grounded and redefined associations and narratives through purposeful manipulation of materials and forms.
Artist Talk: Noon, October 5th, 2022 UWL Gallery
Color reduction woodcut, digital print, graphite, and collage on paper
Biennial Faculty Exhibition,
UWL Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, WI. 2021
PAPER FLOWERS, WORKS FOR FACULTY EXHIBITION
During the Covid-19 pandemic my mode expression became collage. Much like the Dadaists, it was a way for me to confront and make sense of unsettling narratives as well as play in new ideas. The three works on paper in this Faculty Exhibition explore disintegrating pattern as metaphors of disruption through investigations combining woodblock and collage. In all three works the central imagery, roses, were chosen and worked up in color-reduction woodcut for their associations and meanings in popular culture and to embody human vulnerabilities such as emotion, life, love, and fragility. These woodcut prints were cut, copied, and recopied using an inkjet printer to expand on ideas related to replication, pattern, decoration, and mass production.
Printed wall coverings from several decades of the past were part of my childhood and find themselves in my dreams and subconscious. The larger work, Remnant, was shaped by my generational memory of hand printed and machine patterned wall coverings. In this work, woodcut printed and inkjet copied roses, collaged upside down, appear to be hovering and shifting from greyscale to color as they fall out of place into a piled disarray. From the initial sketches to completion of Remnant, I often thought of Rene Magritte’s 1953 painting, Golconda (in which men in overcoats and bowler hats appear to be hovering in an urban scene). One of the initial concepts behind Remnant investigated “what if” questions such as, “what if the wallpaper patterns fell off the wall?”
Rendition, one of the two smaller works experiments with socially motivated departures of patterning. In, Rendition, woodcut-reduction printed, inkjet copied, and advertisement-appropriated rose forms move directionally into disarray. New narratives form through a shifting of patterning and imagery as if in conversation with works by Dadaists Schwitters or Höch.
Transcript, the second of the two smaller works explores manipulation of pattern through collage into an evolved singular, surreal form. In, Transcript, a drawing was made based on an inkjet copy of one of the woodcut color-reduction prints and then made into more inkjet copies, which were systematically cut and reassembled; transforming pattern into a purposefully manufactured entity made anew. While working on Rendition, I often thought of forms made by the artist, Lee Bontecou in which she grounded and redefined associations and narratives through purposeful manipulation of materials and forms.
Artist Talk: Noon, October 5th, 2022 UWL Gallery
Protection, Migration, and Evolution
Graphite, watercolor, digital, & collage works on paper.
The. Art of Collage II, (virtual exhibition due to. the Covid 19 pandemic), with artist talk
Frank Juarez Gallery, Milwaukee WI 2020
Protection, Migration, and Evolution is a multi-media series of work made during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Graphite, watercolor, digital, & collage works on paper.
The. Art of Collage II, (virtual exhibition due to. the Covid 19 pandemic), with artist talk
Frank Juarez Gallery, Milwaukee WI 2020
Protection, Migration, and Evolution is a multi-media series of work made during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
You Are Not Alone
Brooklyn Library Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Library, Brooklyn, NY. 2018
Digitized sketchbook can be viewed here: www.sketchbookproject.com/library/S216915
You Are Not Alone, is part of the Brooklyn Library Sketchbook Project. Sketching has always been a critical part of my artistic process and often generates ideas that later become prints, paintings, sculptures, or installations. This particular sketchbook was completed during the tail end of the "Me Too" movement.
The ideas and motivation for this sketchbook came about from a deep curiosity about gendered mechanisms within the social landscape as well as a desire to play in commentary. This sketchbook highlights an aspect of this play, more specifically, within the discourse of objectification.
Brooklyn Library Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Library, Brooklyn, NY. 2018
Digitized sketchbook can be viewed here: www.sketchbookproject.com/library/S216915
You Are Not Alone, is part of the Brooklyn Library Sketchbook Project. Sketching has always been a critical part of my artistic process and often generates ideas that later become prints, paintings, sculptures, or installations. This particular sketchbook was completed during the tail end of the "Me Too" movement.
The ideas and motivation for this sketchbook came about from a deep curiosity about gendered mechanisms within the social landscape as well as a desire to play in commentary. This sketchbook highlights an aspect of this play, more specifically, within the discourse of objectification.
Wallpaper & The Contortionist
Digital Print on Vinyl & Traditional Etching
Biennial Faculty Exhibition,
UWL Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, WI. 2018
Wallpaper (digital print) and The Contortionist (traditional etching) are two separate works put together as an installation for the 2018 Biennial Faculty Exhibition at UW-la Crosse. The installation considers everyday imagery and objects as important social constructs which translate and inform understandings related to identity and associations to gender.
Artist Talk: Noon, October 12, 2018 UWL Gallery
Digital Print on Vinyl & Traditional Etching
Biennial Faculty Exhibition,
UWL Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, WI. 2018
Wallpaper (digital print) and The Contortionist (traditional etching) are two separate works put together as an installation for the 2018 Biennial Faculty Exhibition at UW-la Crosse. The installation considers everyday imagery and objects as important social constructs which translate and inform understandings related to identity and associations to gender.
Artist Talk: Noon, October 12, 2018 UWL Gallery
Tiab Dawb: Cloth of Everlasting Friendship
Acrylic on Canvas
[Art]ifact Exhibit, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2016
This work is a fusion of imagery from two cultures; Hmong story cloth and Western portrait. The painting depicts dozens of photographs of the 1980’s Friendship Program. The representations highlight the passage of Hmong newcomers into La Crosse, through the efforts of advocate Betty Weeth, as well as the significance of amity between cultures.
Artist talk presentation: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OevFUMqtbhGeSpVxnqmQD-ugwtT5cNXP6W9UFXhiujY/edit?usp=sharing
Acrylic on Canvas
[Art]ifact Exhibit, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2016
This work is a fusion of imagery from two cultures; Hmong story cloth and Western portrait. The painting depicts dozens of photographs of the 1980’s Friendship Program. The representations highlight the passage of Hmong newcomers into La Crosse, through the efforts of advocate Betty Weeth, as well as the significance of amity between cultures.
Artist talk presentation: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OevFUMqtbhGeSpVxnqmQD-ugwtT5cNXP6W9UFXhiujY/edit?usp=sharing
Material Monstrosities
Copper Ink, Colored Pencil, and Rice Paper Collage
Material Reflections: New Work by Emily Lanctot and Lisa Lenarz,
Blend Studio, Nashville, TN. 2015
I want you to question the allure of manufactured products, your relationships with them, and how they psychologically and culturally affect human behaviors. The raw drawings in this series are unapologetic social commentaries. Image fragments from Vogue Magazine were referenced to draw various monstrosities that directly confront and challenge the many subversive elements used in advertising to sexualize products and seduce consumers into buying them and becoming defined by them. Objects, such as shoes, mascara, and lipstick were selected because of their widespread popularity in advertising as signifying products that have the power to entice at a co-dependent cost.
Copper Ink, Colored Pencil, and Rice Paper Collage
Material Reflections: New Work by Emily Lanctot and Lisa Lenarz,
Blend Studio, Nashville, TN. 2015
I want you to question the allure of manufactured products, your relationships with them, and how they psychologically and culturally affect human behaviors. The raw drawings in this series are unapologetic social commentaries. Image fragments from Vogue Magazine were referenced to draw various monstrosities that directly confront and challenge the many subversive elements used in advertising to sexualize products and seduce consumers into buying them and becoming defined by them. Objects, such as shoes, mascara, and lipstick were selected because of their widespread popularity in advertising as signifying products that have the power to entice at a co-dependent cost.
Stilettos, 2014
Etchings
These two etchings titled, "Stiletto Sally" and "Stiletto Stan" reflect a curiosity as well as social commentary on the surreal normalization and sexualization of stiletto high heals by the population at large. Imagery was taken from Vogue magazine and exaggerated to highlight the utter abstract nature of how stilettos operate functionally on the human form and in contrast to. The etchings operate as a pair under male and female title names.
Etchings
These two etchings titled, "Stiletto Sally" and "Stiletto Stan" reflect a curiosity as well as social commentary on the surreal normalization and sexualization of stiletto high heals by the population at large. Imagery was taken from Vogue magazine and exaggerated to highlight the utter abstract nature of how stilettos operate functionally on the human form and in contrast to. The etchings operate as a pair under male and female title names.
Google Gals
Within/Without, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2012
Etchings
I made these etchings in response to a youtube clip I had stumbled on. The clip was on a pro-sex trafficking website. Someone had taken a hundred or so images from Google Earth that had prostitutes and inappropriately dressed women in the background and made a video slide show of it. After my initial shock I became curious about how particular engendered archetypal gestures operate in culture, simultaneously, as both an ideal and a mechanism for abuse. I sought input from pop culture and film as well, so I turned to vogue magazine and "Pretty Baby". Women (as well as models and characters) from all the sources were visually arranged together in contradiction. ...both reflective of victimization and empowerment on some level.
Within/Without, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2012
Etchings
I made these etchings in response to a youtube clip I had stumbled on. The clip was on a pro-sex trafficking website. Someone had taken a hundred or so images from Google Earth that had prostitutes and inappropriately dressed women in the background and made a video slide show of it. After my initial shock I became curious about how particular engendered archetypal gestures operate in culture, simultaneously, as both an ideal and a mechanism for abuse. I sought input from pop culture and film as well, so I turned to vogue magazine and "Pretty Baby". Women (as well as models and characters) from all the sources were visually arranged together in contradiction. ...both reflective of victimization and empowerment on some level.
Within/ Without
Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2012
Pastel, charcoal, and ink
These drawings were made in partnership with other artists from around the world. I asked each participant to take a cellphone photograph of the landscape they found themselves in and forward it to me...so we could share the same view or rather I could see what there eyes were looking at. I then spent time with each tiny photograph drawing them with as much detail as possible with the goal of transcending into that space with them. ...as we live within and without one another continually.
Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2012
Pastel, charcoal, and ink
These drawings were made in partnership with other artists from around the world. I asked each participant to take a cellphone photograph of the landscape they found themselves in and forward it to me...so we could share the same view or rather I could see what there eyes were looking at. I then spent time with each tiny photograph drawing them with as much detail as possible with the goal of transcending into that space with them. ...as we live within and without one another continually.
I want to tell you...
Within/Without, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2012
Video and audio installation
This project came about through a sincere interest in community and finding out what a sense of place is like for people living in my community who are not from here...from the mainstream community culture where I live.
Within/Without, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI. 2012
Video and audio installation
This project came about through a sincere interest in community and finding out what a sense of place is like for people living in my community who are not from here...from the mainstream community culture where I live.
Goddess-like Woman with Stomach Unclothed Holding a Moon
Herstory Project: 100 Feminist Drawings by 100 Artists (Curated by Ulrike Müller), Brooklyn Museum, NY. 2012
Graphite
More information about the Herstory Inventory can be found at the following links:
http://artforum.com/words/id=31046
http://www.margetlong.com/files/HERSTORY_INVENTORY.pdf
http://um.encore.at/exhibitions/herstory-inventory-100-feminist-drawings-100-artists
https://cultureofoneworld.org/invested-premises/performance-design/lesbian-herstory-as-performance-design/3930/
Homage to Oki
On Deck 6, Montana Skatepark.org, Missoula, MT. 2011
More information can be found:
https://www.montanaskatepark.org/ondeck-boards/lisa-ulik/
https://www.montanaskatepark.org/gallery/ondeck-6/
On Deck 6, Montana Skatepark.org, Missoula, MT. 2011
More information can be found:
https://www.montanaskatepark.org/ondeck-boards/lisa-ulik/
https://www.montanaskatepark.org/gallery/ondeck-6/
Identity
Inaugural Group Exhibition, EFFJAY PROJEKTS, Sheboygan, WI 2011
Installation (sculpture and projected video) and selected etchings (print quilt, Heresies, Google Gals)
Inaugural Group Exhibition, EFFJAY PROJEKTS, Sheboygan, WI 2011
Installation (sculpture and projected video) and selected etchings (print quilt, Heresies, Google Gals)
Hi-Fi/Low-Fi
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT 2010
Video installation (real-time footage) in gallery with sound installation outside.
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT 2010
Video installation (real-time footage) in gallery with sound installation outside.
Misconceptions of the Gaze
MFA End of Semester Exhibition, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT 2009
Sculpture and installation with projected video installation.
MFA End of Semester Exhibition, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT 2009
Sculpture and installation with projected video installation.
Pods
MFA End of Semester Exhibition, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT 2009
Sculptural installation, mixed media etchings (print quilt) and select aquatints.
MFA End of Semester Exhibition, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT 2009
Sculptural installation, mixed media etchings (print quilt) and select aquatints.
