lisa cooperman
I am a studio artist, educator, and curator whose goal is to make art matter to more
people. My studio practice is rooted in the discovery of form through material exploration; engagement in the informal classroom is grounded in the belief that the meaningful art experiences are available to everyone.
Most of my work is wall-hung textile sculpture. The influence of place, a love of materiality, and craftsmanship are sewn and folded into funny, strange visual metaphors. I work almost exclusively with found, gifted, and recycled material selected for formal appeal and the meanings associated with its original use. I never know exactly what will happen as each body of work is the result of grappling with new materials. The pieces are also human scaled, relating them to the body as a site of need, tribulation, vanity, mystery, and joy.
In many ways this work is about the instability of narratives and the welter of feelings they produce, but it also centralizes the pleasure of discovery present in the act of making. My aim is to land in the place between stuff and story, to find a sweet seam and stitch it to pieces.
selected exhibitions
2023 Earth, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
Immigrant Centuries, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Slice, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
Turning Basin, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, solo
2022 My Body/My Choice, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn
2021 25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee, Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento
15 Years, Grand Center, Tracy, CA
2020 Wish you were here, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Going 2 Ground: Faculty Creativity in Quarantine, University of the Pacific, virtual
2019 Uplift: Celebrating the Sierra Nevada, Arts Benicia, CA
2018 Manic Episode 6, invitational, Urban Hive, Sacramento, CA
Slice, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
Haptics, happylucky no. 1, New York
Material, D'Art Center, Norfolk, VA
2017 Baize, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, solo
Through Lines, Faculty Exhibition, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific
Wish you were here, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn
2016 Flesh Anew, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
The Feminist Sex Shoppe, On the Ground Floor, Los Angeles
2015 Old Enough to Know Better, Philadelphia Women's Caucus for Art
selected curatorial projects
2022 13%, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific
2021 Dreaming of Equ>lity, virtual, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific
2020 Gone Viral, virtual student exhibition
2019 Women on the Edge: Art from the Permanent Collection, University of the Pacific
Life's Track: Richard Yip Centenary, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific
Mucho Caramelo: Paul Valadez, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific
2018 Golden Eye: Art from the Robert & Jeannette Powell Collection
The Revolution Will Be DIY, Reynolds Gallery, University of the Pacific
2017 Larry Walker: Probe, University of the Pacific
2015 Picasso, Miró & Hawaii Five-0: Prints from the Jack Lord Collection, Haggin Museum
2014 Fortunes & Family, Haggin Museum
experience
2002 - present A.I.R. Gallery, national & alumni member
2019 - present University Curator, Assistant Professor
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
2017 - present University Curator
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
2006 - 2017 Curator of Education, the Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA
2006 Museum Educator, the Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA
2010 - 2016 Visiting Assistant Professor, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
2000 - 2009 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Visual Art, University of the Pacific
education
MFA, Sculpture & Metalsmithing, Montana State University
BA, magna cum laude, English Literature, Bowdoin College