Bio

Transforming things rather than always creating anew, Lisa Occhipinti constructs her works so that they lend their own histories. She creates bespoke sculptural assemblages and textile works from natural and found materials. Whether books, branches, clothing, or fabric, the physicality of the material is embraced and, through labor-intensive practices, imbued with metaphor and meaning.

With a BA in fine art, Lisa has studied in France with Parsons School of Design and in Italy with the School of Visual Arts.  She was a faculty member at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and coordinated and taught their first summer abroad program at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan, Ireland. She taught at the Art Center at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH and at the Brentwood Art Center, Craft Contemporary Museum and the Marlborough School, all in Los Angeles.

Her work has been included in recent exhibitions at Brookfield Arts, New York, the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara CA, Craft Contemporary Museum, Los Angeles CA, The Center for Book Arts, New York NY, Art Museum of Sonoma County, Santa Rosa CA, The Lamont Gallery, Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter NH, Helson Gallery, Ontario Canada as well as a solo exhibition at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo CA.

Lisa received a fellowship from the Clowes Fund for a full residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson VT, and won a residency at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild in Woodstock NY. She has spoken on the role of books in the digital age at a TedX Talk as well as at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, CA. Her work is in collections worldwide including UCSF Mission Bay, Wheaton College Permanent Collection, Dana-Farber Institute, Kaiser Permanente, Nordstrom, Westin Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels, Hotel Lutetia Paris and Ritz-Carlton Hotels.