About

The story changes depending on who is listening.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and had the privilege to grow up in a family of explorers, who found adventures in books when they weren't at sea, in the mountains, or in the forest. I was indoctrinated in the tall tales of the old Northwest, and the idea that good stories were often born from seeking new frontiers; usually outside.

I am an artist and an architect currently exploring symbols of human habitation and
infrastructure and their relationship to the surrounding landscape. The conceptual
underpinnings for this work stem from the iconographical significance of open space
in the American West and the objects we place in it to support our way of life. The investigation hypothesizes that the aesthetic reality of our interventions in the landscape reveal our cultural values in respect to land, natural resources, and each other.

The first two manifestations of this work have been shown as site specific installations as part of the collaborative dark:30 at the 2013 High Desert Test Sites Biennial in Wonder Valley, CA. and Another, Once Again, Many Times More curated by the Martos Gallery in East Marion, New York. The most recent addition to this body of work was Useless, a multi-media performance for Project Cityscope in Portland, Oregon. The piece used stories from The Small Tract Act of 1938, The California Renewable Energy Act, and a recent surge of development in Portland as a lens to examine urbanization and the drive to find human uses for economically useless land.

I live and work in Portland, Oregon.

To hear a little more of Lisa's story listen to Make/Work Episode 18: Lisa Ward , part of the wonderful Make/Work podcast produced by Scott Pinkmountain for The Rumpus