Born in NYC, Lisa studied fine arts at Cornell University and received a BA in art history in 1978 from Barnard College. In 1981, she received an MA in art history from the University of Chicago. Although her passion has always been the making of art, her livelihood was the care and interpretation of it.
After a career working in art museums, Lisa retired in 2018 to focus on her own art making which she had put on “the back burner” for decades. Her museum experience included the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, where she was Associate Director of the Research Center, the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) in NYC, where she was Manager of Collections and Exhibitions, and most recently, the Princeton University Art Museum, where she oversaw the University’s campus art collections.
In 2019, Lisa moved to Newburyport Massachusetts just when the Covid epidemic began. The solitude helped propel her “second act” career as an artist and the creative drive and enthusiasm has not slowed since.
In 2022, the Hemphill Family Foundation awarded her the “Art Adventure Grant” which she used to spend two months in Roccanova, Basilicata, Italy, and create a series of watercolors based on her stay in this remote hilltop town. In August 2024, the Newburyport Art Association offered her the coveted featured Artist exhibition.
Since moving to Newburyport, Lisa has shown in many group exhibitions and two juried exhibitions at the Marblehead Art Association and the Newburyport Art Association where in 2024 she received Best in Medium.
Her work is represented by Threadneedle Gallery in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Follow her on Instagram @lisa_arcomano.
