On the Wing, 2007, acrylic, 42 x 42
Lisa Creed bio resume press
Lisa Creed was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1953. She grew up in and around New England, summering in Surry, Maine, and now lives in North Carolina. Creed studied art and English at Cedar Crest College, graphic design at North Carolina State University, and painting at the Vermont Studio Center. Creed is a past recipient of a Wurlitzer Foundation Fellowship in Taos, New Mexico.
Creed credits several influences, including Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, David Parks, Wolf Kahn, Paul Klee, Cy Twombly, and Antonio Tapies, to name a few. Her work, both abstract and representational, is included in many personal and corporate collections, and has been included in numerous juried exhibitions. In 2009, Creed’s work was selected for juried shows at the North Carolina Museum of Art and Duke University’s Nasher Museum.
Creed’s “Sky and Sea” series harks back to lazy summers spent on the Maine coast. There are no boats, no buildings, and no people to distract from her subject of the open horizon. At this juncture where sky meets sea, Creed awakens a sense of awe as she explores the numinous elements unique to coastal Maine. Creed knows her subject well—she grew up on Newbury Neck, running wild in the fields and swimming in the ice-cold water. To this day, Creed maintains a personal ritual of swimming in the bay at least once a year. Her ritual, like her paintings, recalls a primitive beauty that restores and sustains the human spirit.
In 2009, Creed collaborated with Master Harpsichord builder Richard Kingston and musician Elaine Funaro to create “Opus 333,” a one-of-a-kind custom harpsichord commissioned by Funaro and painted by Creed. Opus #333 will be on exhibit and in concert in three North Carolina museums in the fall of 2010.
BORN
1953 Northampton, Massachusetts
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME 2010
Durham Art Guild solo show, Durham, NC 1998, 2003
EXHIBITIONS
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME 2007, ’08, 09
New Elements Gallery, Wilmington, NC ’06, ’08
Flanders Art Gallery, Raleigh, NC 2008
Glance Gallery, Raleigh, NC 2006
Side Street Gallery, Pittsboro, NC 2005
Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, NC 2005
BHCA Winter Series, Blue Hill, ME 2005
Galerie Ingrid Cooper, Kensington, MD 2003
Green Tara Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC 1999, 2001, 2003
Theatre Art Galleries, Inc., High Point, NC 2001
Bradiggins Art Gallery, Hillsborough, NC 1998
Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, Winston-Salem, NC 1997
Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, NC 1997
Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA 1997
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 1996
Durham Arts Council, Inc., Durham, NC 1995
Arete Gallery, Durham, NC 1992, 1995
Kinney Gallery, Blue HIll, ME 1994
Broderson Gallery, Durham, NC 1994
Art Center, Center Gallery, Carrboro, NC 1993
JURIED EXHIBITIONS
Durham Art Guild 52 Juried Show, Juror: Petah Coyne, artist, 2006
27th Annual Raleigh Fine Arts Society, Raleigh NC 2006
Through Women’s Eyes, By Women’s Hands, Chapel Hill, NC 2005
Sight Unseen, A Touchable Exhibition (sculpture) DAG, Durham, NC 2004
The Triangle’s Best Art part 1 Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh, NC 2004
Through Women’s Eyes, By Women’s Hands, Chapel Hill, NC 2004
Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill, NC 2002
Art on Paper 2000, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, UNCG Contemporary Art Museum Greensboro, NC 2000
Border Biennial, Museum of York County, Rock Hill, SC, 2000
22nd Annual Raleigh Fine Arts Society Artists Exhibition, 2000
Green Hill Center, Greensboro, NC 1999-2006
Durham Art Guild 44th Juried Show, 1998
Southeastern Spectrum, 1998
18th Annual Raleigh Fine Arts Society Artists Exhibition, 1996
CCA National Competition, Kinston, 1996
Durham Art Guild 39th Juried Show, 1994
Henley Southeastern Spectrum, Juror: Mark Pascale, Art Institute of Chicago, Winston-Salem, 1993, ’94
OCWC Show, Chapel Hill 1992, ’93
INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
Emerging Artist Invitational 25th, Durham, NC 2004
Durham Art Guild Invitational, Durham, NC 1998, 2001
Ella Fountain Pratt Invitational, Durham, NC 2000
RJR Gallery, Sawtooth Bldg., Winston-Salem, NC 1997
DAG Annual Member Show, Durham, NC 1992-2007
AWARDS AND GRANTS
Wurlitzer Foundation Fellow, Taos, NM 1999
Durham Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant 1998
2nd place Raleigh Fine Arts Society, Donald Kuspit, juror 1996
Henley Paper Show, Kimberly Clark purchase award 1993
Juror’s choice, OCWC show 1992
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Duke University Hospital
HSMM, Inc. (architects-engineers-planners), Raleigh office
American Tobacco, Durham, NC
Duke University Office of the Provost and Hart House (presidents residence)
Kimberly Clark, Corp.
Carolina Public Relations
The Retreat at Lake Blackshear in Cordele, Georgia
Ritz-Carlton Pavilion, Washington DC
Hall Wynne: Triangle Funeral Services, INC. NC
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Michele Natale, art reviewer for The News and Observer, Raleigh, NC, October, 2005
Blue Greenberg, art reviewer for The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC, February 2003
Molly McGinn, art reviewer for The News and Record, High Point, NC 2001
EDUCATION
North Carolina State University, MPD (masters) Visual Design, 1984
Cedar Crest College, BA Art and English, 1975
University of the Arts in Philadelphia: Studied painting while attending the Vermont Studio Center, 1995
The News and Observer, Raleigh, NC, October 2005
“... Lisa Creed abandons her color field abstractions for Maine Sea and Sky paintings. Seascapes of large cloud-filled horizons hovering over slim slivers of sea, they are nearly as minimal as Rothko, but painted with a lyric, romantic feeling in a soft pastel palette. A homage to her childhood summering place, Newbury Neck, Maine, they honor the timelessness of its open spaces and changing weathers. These paintings deeply absorb their fresh subject. Let’s see where this new direction goes.”
Michele Natale Art reviewer for the News and Observer
The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC, February 2003
“Red is a tough color to emphasize in an entire exhibition, but, Lisa Creed, whose artistic and technical expertise are evident in each canvas, has done just that. She applies here reds in layers and then scrapes and scratches through them, exposing architectural forms as if the have been found on and archeological dig.
In her gallery statement, she talks about time spent in Taos, NM, and how the desert with its light and open spaces influenced her. Indeed the sun's ascent and descent is always marked by a blazing sky, and it is probably that intensity that fuels the color in her paintings.
The fault for me lies not in the use of hot colors, but in their profusion. If you can handle a red room, you will love this work. If you cannot, you will turn away, feeling their intensity in an assault on your senses.”
Blue Greenberg Art reviewer for The Herald-Sun
The News and Record, High Point, NC 2001
“Creed’s collection, Light Returns,...is made up almost entirely of red hues except for the occasional burst of yellow, orange and blue. Creed layers squares of paint over the canvas in an asymmetric fashion. Scraping at the surface with tools, thin streams or blocks of colors emerge. Some of the pieces seem to be photos taken from an airplane overlooking a farm field. Others pictures make the shapes of abstract cityscapes.”
Molly McGinn Art reviewer for The News and Record
