Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Alembik.
Hi Lisa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a native Atlantan and have lived in and around the city for most of my life. My mom is Venezuelan and my father was French, so being born in Atlanta is both happenstance and good luck. Artmaking is what I do and who I am. I don’t feel like myself if I haven’t been drawing or making things.
I am an associate professor at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College, where I have taught foundations of art since 2013. Before this role, I was the gallery director at Agnes Scott College for over a decade, where I curated dynamic exhibitions with local, national, and international artists, musicians, and writers.
Although I considered myself an artist at a young age, I did not expect artmaking to become a career. My high school art teacher, Jane Sibley, instilled in me a love for art history, which led me to earn a degree in Art History and Studio Art from George Washington University. After graduating, I worked in photography, faux finishing, and waitressing, before returning to graduate school in my late twenties. While earning my MFA at Georgie State University, I began to take exhibition organizing seriously. I served on the board of Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery, curating exhibitions with friends. I can discuss ideas with artists and thinkers all day; sharing their work with a broader public is a decadent privilege.
I never imagined myself teaching because I am quite introverted. Standing in front of a group has always been daunting. I realized that, by centering my focus on the power of art and creative thinking, teaching could be an opportunity to foster an authentic recognition of their importance. I am constantly motivated by my students at Perimeter College, as well as by being a mom, a Girl Scout co-troop leader, and a volunteer art instructor in the library program at Druid Hills Middle School. As an artist who teaches, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
I want to learn everything I can to encourage the use of the Imagination as a tool for creative problem-solving, especially in addressing issues of social justice. To delve in deeper into my interests, I returned to formal study last year, taking courses in the PhD program in Art at the University of Georgia. I do have to stretch out the hours of the day to make room for everything I want to do, but this feeds my practice as an artist and educator.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been winding, never boring and always a challenge. I rarely had a map or a defined plan. Building a life as an artist requires an entrepreneurial spirit and a thick skin. One struggle early on was the lack of mentors to help me navigate the field. Still, I’ve met fabulous people who encouraged my work and helped shape my path. Being open to change and building community has been essential. Atlanta has such a rich and supportive Art community.
This question brings to mind a current struggle: support for mid- and late-career artists. Atlanta thrives on the new and the fresh, but sustained artistic communities depend on continuity. When artists are supported over the long term, they become mentors and resources for emerging generations. I would love to see the city and its institutions invest in its artists with a view that values longevity and the mentorship ecosystems that can grow from it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Of late I have been gravitating to drawing and painting, but I also love working with the rawness of sculpture. My favorite media are paper and plaster. I use whatever materials my work calls for.
My art focuses on the unhinged, often ridiculous nature of war and the disruption caused by violence—especially violence against women. My family is Jewish, and only my immediate family members survived the Holocaust. War has always felt close to home, shaping my work. I grew up keenly aware of how hate, as well as inaction, can destroy lives.
I have an ongoing series of drawings titled Murder Ballads that explores the absurdity of violence against women. In these works, women are depicted naked, alone, and dead within rooms that once offered comfort. Over the past three years, I have also been gathering images of war and reimagining the soldiers as naked women, exposed and vulnerable as they move through their daily acts of soldiering. These can be stressful works to make, but I feel compelled to show them.
I am also drawn to building lush spaces with paint, places that are imbued with real and imagined stories of the people who might have breathed within their walls. I gather resource materials from film, books, and old postcards. I hope these rooms can offer solace as refuges for those who escaped violence.
I believe we are all political beings, and that isolationism and willful ignorance are dangerous. My work serves as a reminder that we belong to a global society. What we witness today is shaped by history, and we have the capacity to make meaningful change in the future.
What matters most to you?
I want to live in a world where we recognize that what exists outside of ourselves—whether it is other people who seem different from us or the natural world—is also within us. We are not separate from what surrounds us, and we are responsible to it. Forgetting our interconnectedness makes it easier to ignore suffering and justify violence.
To be more specific, my family is the most important part of my life. What matters the most to me is that we strive to build a future that is rich with compassion.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lisaalembik.com
- Instagram: @lalalembik
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-alembik-31243413a
