Lisa Lawley's paintings are based on abstract drawings done in the landscape. She works on paper when traveling, and these studies become the basis for her work in the studio. Recently she drew in Cambodia for several weeks, and the paintings from these drawings were shown in New York and Boston. Her work has been included in international shows the have taken place at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota, Colombia, and at museums and galleries in Dublin, The Hague, Barcelona and The Netherlands.
Solo exhibitions of Lawley's work have been held at David Beitzel Gallery and Twining Gallery in New York. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including The American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York and the Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts. Lawely has worked as a curator and organizer of numerous exhibitions at The Painting Center in New York, which she co-founded in 1993. She was hired as actor/director Ed Harris' painting coach on the 2000 film "Pollock," and created the Jackson Pollock paintings seen throughout the movie.
Her work has been reviewed in Arts, Newsday, Interview and on the BBC.
Lawley earned her BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art in 1976 and a MFA from Yale University in 1982. She is the recipient of a number of fellowships and grants, including a 1976 Greenshields Foundation grant for travel to Spain, grants in 1980 and 1981 from the Ford Foundation, and the 1982 Alice Kimball English Award for travel to China. She has also taught at Yale, the Rhode Island School of Design and the Yale Norfolk Summer Program.