I'm thrilled to announce my next book is out ! Art/Craft/Color. With 20 projects by amazing makers/artists and 2 in depth essays from me, A/C/C was released on March 3, 2026. Learn more on Hardie Grant's site or ORDER from your favorite book seller. and if you have a copy and love it, please leave a positive review.
I have a whole host of workshops and opportunities to make things - some free, some sliding scale, some longer and more involved classes. These are often in conjunction with Art/Craft/Color - and include sashiko, wine charms, paper clay beads and watercolor. These are running from now through the summer/fall. Find links to sign up on my teaching page.
I have been continually making installations based on my Senninbari piece for both private and institutional collections.
lisa solomon
is an oakland, california based mixed media artist, author, educator, and occasional curator
who has been teaching [at Bay Area Colleges and classes around the world] for 20+ years. As a Hapa she continually explores ideas, spaces and materials that are in-between. A self declared color geek, she is profoundly interested in bridging the gaps between being creative, living creatively, creating community, and making a living as a creative.
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the latest news + exhibitions
chroma japan !
Christine Buckton Tillman and my chroma dreams have come true. I co-curated a show including Libby Black, Mitra Fabian, Aurora Robson, and Reimi Nakai The show was entitled In Flux and was on exhibit at the Koumi Machi Museum (near Nagano) from July 5 - September 7, 2025
I Like Your Work
Erika Hess and I talk about my new book - how it came about, how I became an aritst, why asking if you make a living being an artist can be insulting, keeping a schedule and staying organized and much more Listen Here.
Create Magazine !
A conversation about when I called myself an artist, what it takes to get a community to help you crochet 1000 doilies, the tension between experimenting and creating a body of work and of course Art/Craft/Color Listen Here.
Quilter on Fire
Brandy and I speak about color - across all media, the one art quilt I made, and a bunch of other fun things including Art/Craft Color Listen Here.
Artists in Offices
A lovely conversation with Becky Bird Grigsby about life, art, parenting while being an artist, my studio being built and much more. Listen Here.
Authentic Obsessions Podcast
The fabulous Molly Meng and I had a conversation about glues, color, process, discipline and other fun stuff. Listen Here.
Group exhibition at 120710 Gallery Berkeley
Curated by John Colle Rogers and Gemma Szusterman. This group exhibition opens March 1, 2025 from 4-8pm and runs through the 22nd of March at 120710 gallery. I will be exhibiting 3 new mended targets
Amime // Solo Exhibition at Walter Maciel Gallery
September 7th - October 26th 2025, an exhibition that explored the Japanese pattern AMIME - a fishing net. The pattern lives on everything from kimonos to dishware and symbolizes good fortune. Several large scale installations as well as a series of prints, paintings and drawings were on view. The exhbition was featured on art daily.
Kiku no hana // art kiosk
extended to be up through October 1, 2024 in the Art Kiosk in Redwood City - 2208 Broadway - I explored how Executive Order 9066 affected residents of San Mateo County. The exhibition is free and available to view 24/7. Read about the thoughts behind the pieces here.
Remembering Ruth Asawa
Five contemporary artists create new work in response to the artist Ruth Asawa and The Garden of Remembrance, a memorial to Japanese American incarceration during WWII located on the SFSU campus. Featuring: Mark Baugh-Sasaki, Tina Kashiwagi, Paul Kitagaki, Jr., Lisa Solomon, TT Takemoto. The catalog features essays from Lewis Kawahara, Weston Teruya, and Patricia Wakida. February - April 2024. This exhibition was reviewed in the SF Examiner and there is a corresponding interview with Weston Teruya here. Catalogue Available This exhibition traveled to the Fine Arts Gallery at San Diego State University from Feb-April 2025
A Beautiful Mess
Beginning in Feb. 2021 at the Bedford Gallery and travelling through 2025 - it will open at the Dennos Musum of Art September 27, 2024 and be on view until January 5, 2025. Please see the group exhibition portion of my CV for upcoming and past venues
Solo exhbition San Luis Obispo Museum
Cellular Memory at San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Curated by Emma Saperstein and on exhibit from June 2 and thru August 28, 2023. A mini retrospective of several bodies of work, along with a newly commissioned large french knot piece installed in an Amime [Japanese Fishing Net] pattern. This exhibition was reviewed in the SLO New Times and also LA Weekly
Stunning photos of the Hermosa Beach home that houses a blue knot installation were featured in July's edition of Wallpaper Magazine
The WPA is alive and well
The amazing Jackie Sumell of Solitary Gardens asked me to create a poster for her prisoner's apothecary project that won WPA support. This was such an honor and thrill. You can see/download and read all about the USDAC's continuing support of artists and social justice projects HERE.
Since 2016 I have been curating and organizing small art and good auctions on instagram that raise money for people and organizations doing good in the world - from the ACLU, to World Central Kitchen, to food banks, COVID relief, the San Jose Sewing Academy and beyond, it is our hope that these small stones will make larger ripples.