About Lisa Courtney

 
About Me
I come from a long line of artists— my great-grandfather, New York artist Curtis Sisco, painted portraits of celebrities, including Louis Armstrong. My grandmother, Marion Virginia Neer, painted thousands of landscapes for collectors throughout New England. As a child, I would sit at her kitchen table and together we would draw. My parents recognized my talent at an early age and sent me to private art lessons with a local artist.
I attended the Art Institute of Boston and graduated with a BFA in advertising and graphic design. I’ve had a long career as a graphic designer, building successful brands for international companies. I started painting, being mentored by artist Ann Christensen. I picked up a paint brush and it was, and still is, like breathing for me. I realized I had a voice that needed to be expressed through paint. My graphic design background became evident in my work as I began interpreting the world through shapes and bold fields of color.
I voraciously studied people I wished to emulate. Hockney, Hopper, Wolf Khan, the Fauves, Fairfield Porter, and Matisse became my mentors. I consider myself to be an abstract expressionist, meaning there are things that are recognizable, somewhere between realism and abstractionism.

 
I opened an art gallery in Marblehead, MA, Courtney Fine Art, knowing little about art dealing. I showed emerging artists while painting upstairs. People would come up to my studio and buy my work right off the wall, still wet. Then a corporate dealer approached me and began selling my work to corporations and collectors.

For the last 18 years, I've shown in galleries, been in both solo and group shows. I am currently represented by corporate art dealer Boston Art. My paintings are a culmination of all of my experiences— twenty five years as a creative professional, painter, designer, photographer, and writer. 

My work can be found in both private and corporate collections, in addition to being seen in movies, tv shows, and commercials.