September Artist Spotlight: Interdisciplinary Mosaicist Lisa Arnold

Hi Lisa, thanks so much for taking time out of your day to tell us a little about yourself! Let's dive in, what's your background and what art form do you practice?

I think of the work that I do as art for justice/art for joy! I call myself an Interdisciplinary Mosaicist with a focus on Social Change. For the last 20 years, I’ve been working as a Teaching Artist, doing residencies and creating community art projects with a social justice perspective. Some of my favorite residencies include and combine mosaics, masks, sticker/poster/street art, collage, nature art, illustration, spoken word, and poetry.

When did you first become interested in visual art and mosaics? How did it happen? Who were some of your influences?

Some of my earliest memories are of art. I fell in love with the magic of it from the start. My mom could make anything and everything out of Play-Doh and I would be astonished. I’ve always been mesmerized by the art process, transforming “nothing” to “something” or something into something else.

When I was in grad school, a friend showed me how to use a glass cutter, I bought supplies and a book that day and knew I was shifting careers.

I think one of the reasons I fell in love with mosaics is that they’re such a great metaphor for life -- the bringing together of little pieces and broken bits to make something beautiful and meaningful. It’s easy to think about each piece of tessera in a mosaic as representative of each of us. When we all show up sparkling, being our best selves, it’s amazing what we can do together!

Some of my other favorite influences include: Nick Cave, Betsy Youngquist, The Walker Art Center and all the guest artists they’ve brought in over the decades, Nikki de Saint Phalle, Yayoi Kusama, Ana Mendieta, Nek Chand, Hundert Wasser, Lori Greene, Barbara Benson Keith, Judy Onofrio, Jan Huling, Sharra Frank, Lisa Congdon, Nikki Giovanni, and Willie Wonka…

What do you get out of teaching versus creating your own work? What do you enjoy the most about teaching?

I’m great company as are my cats so I like working solo in my home studio, but there’s nothing better than connecting with other people through art. “Come look!” might be my favorite phrase in the English language. It’s wonderful when a participant is so proud of what they’ve learned or done, they have to share it with you immediately. I also feel like art is a saving grace for a lot of people who might feel like an outsider, so connecting with those kids, offering them a new way to express themselves and feel successful is a huge reward. In addition, work can be so much larger and get done so much faster when there’s a team!

In this time of virtual programming how are you adjusting? What do you find challenging? Any unexpected benefits?

I miss being in the same room as my students so much! But I’m happy to do distance learning if it keeps us all safe. This summer I taught a short sculpture class as well as a three-week mask class over Zoom and they were both fabulous. One benefit of teaching within a frame is that it’s easy to teach composition and the principles of design using our bodies in space on screen. Coming from both worlds of theater and art, I do like to give my visual art students opportunities to move and use their bodies theatrically while thinking about their projects from varying positions of character, setting, story, and audience.

Have you been working on any new projects lately?

I just had a piece about environmental issues in the garment industry return from a traveling Human Rights Show.

I have a solo show coming up in one of the galleries in Coffman Union at the U of M so I am beading sculptures for that.

I also have a piece in the works for a show at the Museum of Beadwork in Maine.

As far as teaching goes, I am excited to offer a class in Visual Storytelling this fall.

During this time of great change in Minnesota and around the world, how do you see the arts as fitting into that story?

While it might sound like hyperbole, I believe the arts are everything! When it comes down to it, I believe that art changes people and people change the world. I’m not the first to say that, but I see it happening all the time. To me art is not only a “what,” but a “how.” Impetus coming from the “artistic how” moves in terms of possibility, connection, interrelationship, and shared power. It is how we heal ourselves and each other, create and maintain society.

How do you combine your activism work into your art?

Art and activism blend in my work through theme, material, and/or process. My work is often about nature, animals, the environment, social justice, racial equality, non-violence, modes of thinking, and collaboration.

I’ve come up with a list I call the “10 C’s of Social Justice” which includes community, collaboration, compassion, courage, creativity, common purpose, citizenship, critique, celebration, and commitment.

I like doing big mosaic murals and talking with participants about leaving an artistic legacy of love. I figure that if we can push ourselves to do our best work on a community art piece, relying on, helping, and trusting each other to do the best we can do wherever we find themselves, collaborate and work independently to create something beautiful out of something broken, this will be a great metaphor for how we can leave a legacy of love in our lives and shape the world we live in.

You’ve been on the COMPAS roster for two months! What’s it like for you to be a part of COMPAS so far? What are you looking forward to or hoping to experience?

I am so excited and grateful to be a part of COMPAS! I’ve always admired this organization and its mission and have respected the artists I know on it, so it’s an honor to be part of the group that’s been doing such meaningful work for decades.

How do you practice creativity in your everyday life?

I’m lucky that I can roll out of bed, walk to my studio, and make art until I go back to bed! But also, I believe in the art of possibility. I believe we have to use our creative power and privilege to make the world more equitable, and the act of doing that is beautiful!