Artist Statement
In my creative practice, I have always leaned heavily on stories about my ancestral past, my own memories, and the power of imagination. Often, I mix what I see in the physical waking world with dreams and moments between sleep and consciousness when light and shadow offer the most compelling opportunities for transcendence.
This luminous place relates to my focus as an architect where the power of imagination through alternative perspectives easily segued into my practice as an artist. Here I have concentrated on nature, light, and space, and the decisions we make when we are passing through “inbetween spaces”: those moments when we move from one space to the next, when the light opens up or closes down and we become hyper-aware of our surroundings. This is not unlike our lives in transition, when we are heading down a certain path but suddenly feel compelled to walk through the untrodden meadow searching and hoping for something wild and unexpected. Many of my pieces explore these dreamlike experiences where the will and acceptance collide.
The paintings Listen (2025), Making Peace (2026) and Pink Cake (2026) are part of a recent series that add a layer of exploration into the interconnectedness of life. To me, the women in these paintings are quietly holding up the world and protecting us. They are a part of nature, as are the animals, who are central characters. The animals are always messengers, storytellers, and deep thinkers. They free us to trust our intuition. They compel us to be our wild selves. Of course I want to be the animal, and this is what I want to investigate while making these pieces.
About the Artist
Lisa Mullikin was born in Washington, DC and received her Masters of Architecture from the University of Maryland. She worked in Washington, London, New York, San Francisco, Louisiana and Tennessee as an architect and teacher. Her focus has been on historical restoration and sustainable design. Lisa began her painting career by taking classes at the San Francisco Art Institute while she was working as an architect in historic restoration. She later studied art at the universities where she was teaching architecture and was introduced to plein air in Louisiana and printmaking in East Tennessee. She now works as a full time artist in Wilmington, North Carolina at Acme Studios as an oil painter. She is most interested in how memory and anticipation influence present perception, and this is explored through landscape, abstract and figurative work.
