Lisa Baird

— << Painterly Diary >> —

Artist Biography and Statement
Lisa Baird started painting as a child when she was in the hospital recovering from encephalitis. A common but temporary symptom of the disease is speech dysfunction, but Lisa found that she was able to communicate through drawing and has been making art ever since.  Although she has worked in a variety of media including sculpture, video and installation art, Baird is currently making colorful mixed media works on paper.  Her work draws not only from life but from the imagination in a process that is playful and unconscious.  Her paintings contain narrative elements and a domestic, familial intimacy.  Often, scale is skewed, gravity is defied, and the picture plane is covered with images, pattern, and color. What she is seeking is not realism or abstraction but the unconscious and intuitive mystery of being human.

“I see life in fragments: a snippet of a memory, the flash of a news story, a bird landing on the patio table, a coffee cup, a child in the yard, or a bride in a wedding photograph on the wall.  Inside these small moments I find the potential for enchantment”. 

Lisa Baird works and lives outside of Philadelphia, PA. She received a BA from Bowdoin College, a BFA in Painting from The San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from The Maryland Institute, College of Art.   She has taught at the University of the Arts, Drexel University, The Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, and The Delaware College of Art and Design. She has won awards both for her teaching and for her art including a Leeway Award for Sculpture and the MBNA award for best practices in Education.   Her work is in private collections in the United States, Europe, and Australia.  

Education
1997 – MFA The Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
1980 – BFA Fine Arts The San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1978 – BA Art History Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
1976/1977 – Study abroad University College, Oxford University, UK

Professional Teaching Experience
2000/2015 – Senior lecturer in 3D design and sculpture, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2009-2013 – Professor, 3D design, Drexel University Philadelphia, PA
2007/2013 – Professor, foundation studies, The Pennsylvania College of Art + Design, Lancaster, PA
1998-2016 – Professor, foundation studies, The Delaware College of Art and Design, Wilmington, DE; (Delaware College of Art and Design in partnership with Pratt School of Art + Design.

Selected One Person Exhibitions
2023 – “Kindred” The Hook Experiment, Oxford, PA
2022 –  “For Colors Sake”Galley 444 Provincetown, MA
2020 – “Studies in Isolation” Oxford Arts Alliance: Oxford, PA
2019 – “DE Cell Mates” University of Delaware Exhibition Newark, DE
2016 – “Message for the Mess Age” The Pennsylvania College of Art Lancaster, PA
2010 – “Journey into past Addresses” The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts Wilmington, DE
2012 – “Message for the Mess Age” The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2003 – “Message for the Mess Age” Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD
2000 – “The Wedding” The Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, MD
1999 – “The Family Channel” The Philadelphia Art Alliance Philadelphia, PA

Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 – “The Hook Experiment” Oxford, PA
2023 – “Small Works” Gallery 440 Brooklyn, NY
2022 – “Cherish” The Blue Streak Gallery Wilmington, DE
2021 – The Gallery Project, Brooklyn, NY
2021 – “Small Works” The Blue Streak Gallery
2020 – “Beyond Paper” Gloucester Arts Invitational Gloucester, MA
2019 – “Postcards” Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2018 – “Jury Show + Prize” The Oxford Art Alliance Oxford, PA
2018 – “Artist Books” The University of the Arts Leeway Artists, PA
2017 – “Making Space” Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017 – Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA
2016 – Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
2015 – “Pop Up Art” Art Harvest; Chadds Ford, PA Pop up Art Show and Sale

Grants & Awards
2020 – Oxford Art Alliance Jury Prize
2000 – MBNA Award for Excellence in Education
1999 – Leeway Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sculpture
1998 – MBNA Grant for Community Service
1998 – Vermont Studio Center Residency
1997 – Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts Members Award.

University Service
–  Art and 3D design courses: Three-dimensional design
–  Art and Ddesign courses: Three-dimensional design
– Fine Arts courses: Mixed media
– Foundation courses: Three-dimensional design, time motion
– Fine Art courses: Sculpture elective, sculpture projects
– Portfolio review/student recruitment
– Critic for craft students Misteros exhibition
– Critic fine arts senior thesis
– Admissions/Portfolio reviews/student recruitment
– Fundraising committee/ co-chairman
– Admissions/portfolio reviews/student recruitment
– Fundraising committee / co-chairman.

Presentations and Lectures
2005/2006 – Artist in Residence, The Helen Graham Cancer Center, Body Armor.
2003 – Life Casting Workshop for Breast Cancer Awareness, The Jamaica Plains Art Center, New York, NY; Delaware College of Art and Design, Designing Public Sculpture.
2002 – Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Artists Panel; The University of Delaware; Video Workshop; Maryland Institute, College of Art.
2001/2011 – The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA senior lecture.

Community Art Projects
2007-2009 – Longwood Gardens, Chadds Ford, PA in collaboration with Delaware Center for Horticulture: raised $50,000 to implement urban garden in Wilmington, DE.
2005-2005 – Helen Graham Cancer Center, worked with cancer patients on a collaborative art installation.
1999 Delaware College of Art and Design Summer Program for Young Urban Artists.
1999 – Wilmington Renaissance Corporation in collaboration with Delaware College with Art and Design: Consultant and maintained public sculpture project.
1998 – Hope House Collaborative Installation and Sculpture Garden in Collaboration with Hope House Inc. Wilmington, DE raised $30,000 to implement sculpture garden and playground for Women in Transition.

Collection
Lisa Baird’s work is in private, public, and museum collection in North America.

Professional Membership
College Art Association; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts; ICA, Philadelphia.

Selected Bibliography/Press
“Kindred” at the Hook experiment, Main Line Tonight Media by Melissa Jacobs(12/2023)
“New Artists & Styles” at Oxford Arts Alliance, Chester County Press by J. Chambless (10/2018)
“Artists on the Fringe” The City Paper (2001)
“Woman Wins Grant” The Wilmington News Journal (1999)
“Leeway Grants for Crafts and Sculpture” Art in America (1999)
“Works in Progress” Philadelphia Inquirer (1999).