About the Artist

Santa Monica Airport Resident Artist Lisa Atkinson is an award-winner whose large-scale abstracts celebrate resilience. Before earning her masters degree in architectural design, she studied art at Otis-Parsons, L’Academie Du Port Royale, La Sorbonne Paris, Cambridge University and UCLA. Atkinson uses charcoal, oil and acrylic paint to create works on canvas that investigate dynamic, life-supporting systems. Rhythmic organic motifs emerge and dissolve in her compositions, suggesting temporal changes without becoming literal. Her paintings mysteriously unfold as immersive fields that provide alternative worlds. Atkinson's paintings are collected across the United States, from Manhattan to California.   Downloadable CV

As seen inLISA ATKINSON (she/her)  
Los Angeles, CA | AtkinsonArts.com | @AtkinsonArts          

ARTIST STATEMENT     

Drawing on the Deconstructivist traditions of my architectural training at SCI-Arc, I explore the flux between accretion and dissolution, a focus sharpened by the loss of my home in the 2025 Palisades Fire.  Fragmented perceptions are layered into my large-scale paintings.  Stacking acrylic washes, pigment sticks, walnut oils, and smoky charcoal forged from fire, I build immersive visual sites of regeneration. In my materials, I utilize the transformative, liquid-to-solid nature of paint to convey the threshold between disintegration and emergence.

EDUCATION

• Masters in Architecture (M.Arch), Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), L.A., CA
• Studies in Oil Painting & Design, L'Academie Du Port Royale, Paris, France
• Design & Drawing, UCLA, Otis-Parsons School of Design, Los Angeles, CA
• Interdisciplinary Art & Architectural Studies, UCLA, Cambridge University, UK

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• (Forthcoming) Current Series: Second Life (2025-2026)
• 2026 Surge, All Things Ocean, Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
• 2026 Garden Party, Flowers 4 Peace & Prosperity, Red Bluff Gallery Exhibition
• 2026 She Glows From Within, Showcasing All Women Artists, Las Laguna Art Gallery, CA
• 2026 Garden Party, Floral Galore, KBM Art Gallery, Online Gallery
• 2025 Fire Flowers, One Hundred Percent, Fire Survivor Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA
• 2025 Wish You Were Here, Recover, Cedars Sinai Fire Survivor Show, Los Angeles, CA
• 2022 Blue in The Bu, Art of Surf, City of Malibu, CA
• 1990 Gehry’s Door, Gallery of Functional Art, Santa Monica, CA
• 1987 Signs, Wight Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

RESIDENCIES & AWARDS

• Resident Artist, Santa Monica Airport Arts Center Bungalows, CA 2025-Present 
• Grant Recipient, City of Santa Monica Airport Studio Award, Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, 2025
• Artist Residency, Willow Creek Pond, San Luis Obispo, CA, 2025
• Beverly Hills Art League Award for Excellence

MEDIA MENTIONS

• 2025  Mary W. “Lisa Atkinson: Painting Through Memory and Loss,” The Art Insight, December, 2025
• 2025 “These Five Women Show Us The New Face of Abstract Art,” Women In Arts Network, November, 2025
• 2025  Beckett, Louis. “Their studios burned…”  The Guardian, February 18, 2025
• 2025 “The Southern California Fire Disaster: One Month Later” KNX News February
• 2025 “Voices of Fire Survivors” LAist, January 5, 2025
• 2022  Bravo, Samantha. “Art of Surf,” The Malibu Times, June 30, 2022