Past, Current, and Future Exhibitions
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin
Artist, Alisa E. Clark's Exhibition Statement
Ofrendas 2024, Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), 2024
My final ofrenda includes memorabilia from “Ottillie’s Basket,” this allowed me to interlace our family narrative (on my father’s side) within this vessel. My Ofrenda also honors Yaya, my deceased Greek grandmother (on my mother’s side), inspired by her portable shrine, the iconostasis. These two altars spoke to me of our history (both familial and spiritual) and inspired me to include them in my Ofrenda. Combining elements from family memorabilia, the Greek iconostases, Ottillie’s Basket, and traditional Ofrendas—marigolds, candles, photos, butterflies, skulls, perforated paper, bread, water, salt, grapes and wine, prayer beads, photographs, and other tokens of remembrance—allowed me to adopt new symbolism and connect it to my own spiritual and artistic roots, within my shrine. Through creating this altar, I explore cross-cultural connections while celebrating love and honoring the deceased through a shared act of remembrance.
This exhibit is on display from September 28 – November 3, 2024
My Ofrendas 2024 at the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA)
Created to merge functionality with humor, Hairy Harry holds a toilet paper roll, Multitasking Mom sharpens a pencil, and Boring Bob holds a writing implement when it’s not in use. This series of three assemblage sculptures invites viewers to step into a world where art and humor coexist, where the unexpected can bring joy and provoke thought. These sculptures are an exploration of the boundaries between functionality and artistic expression, blending practicality with a touch of the absurd. They seek to amuse those who delight in the unconventional and who appreciate the courage to create something different.
Multitasking Mom, Boring Bob, and Hairy Harry, 2024
On exhibit at the Northville Art House from November 15 – December 14, 2024
Sacred and Liturgical, M.G. Nelson Gallery, 2024
I paint the shores on which I walked with Him. It’s where I learned that I would completely mess everything up upon my return from this surreal and magnificent place. I saw that I could be my broken self, and that would be enough. I see that I didn’t fully capture this experience. I really bit off much more than I can chew here. Visions are wholly intangible. I’m glad for my attempts anyway. They seared this experience, that transcended my brokenness, into my heart with my paintbrush.
This exhibition was on display in the M.G. Nelson Gallery
Exhibition Dates: May 3rd to May 31st, 2024
Fantastical 2024: National Juried Exhibition
I create magical places with a tear, a drip, a brushstroke, and a pencil line. This imaginary world is curious and strange. Bees dance, the sun shines, and a strange city lies ahead in the distant valley. Imagination fuels my creation and invites the viewer to step into a fantastical world.
Layers of Hope: Episcopal Church and Visual Arts (ECVA), 2024
Following the loss of my parents, I became the keeper of our family’s past, collecting memorabilia in a basket that traces its origins back to my grandmother’s journey from Straubing, Germany to Ellis Island in 1918. This memorabilia turned into a collection of iterations and a final altered book (which includes those same iterations). My creative process evolved into a collaborative journey, inviting perspectives from a wider circle to expand the narrative, a testament to the power of community in shaping our stories. In a world that sometimes feels overshadowed by darkness and chaos, I searched for hope in life’s unfolding moments. In “Ottillie’s Basket,” I wove together fragments of family history into a narrative of expectancy and promise.
Holy Presence: Episcopal Church and Visual Arts (ECVA), 2024
I created two assemblage pieces to connect myself to some of my earliest spiritual experiences. My Aunt Julie, and avid Catholic, has several little religious shrines in her room. They had little doors and inside those doors I met Mary and Jesus for the first time. Remaking these little shrines make me feel connected to God. I look at these pieces, and I feel I captured the wonder I found in Aunt Julie’s little shrines. It is my hope that others who might otherwise miss the “wonder” will look at these works and feel pulled towards God. I hope they inspire people to ask questions, seek, and be fascinated by spiritual things. May they want to open the doors, peek inside, and meet Him.
Click on these links to view the Enshrined and Infant of Prague Assemblages
Fields of Vision Juried Fine Arts Exhibition, 2024
Not thrilled by the coming of winter. I don’t like to be cold. It is beautiful, though. Capturing the beauty offsets the chill. I do like the way things settle down during the wintry months. January and February come with a quieting. This year, maybe I’ll embrace the ground frost.
The exhibition will be on display in CTAC-Petoskey’s Gilbert Gallery
Exhibition Dates: January 13 to February 24, 2024
Faith in Motion: Episcopal Church and Visual Arts (ECVA), 2023
I’ve never done much in the way of video editing. I played around with the software and accidentally made discoveries that said it better than I intended. I set out to weave a “collection” of still images together- starting with the images and video and then adding the audio. When I started layering other sounds with the audio track (the sounds of the birds, the wind, and other creatures) my theme, This Is God,” became clear
International Society of Experimental Artists’ Juried Exhibition:
ISEA Utterly Unfathomable and Powerfully Profound, 2023
I enshrined several pieces of memorabilia on my painting surface- atypical choices driven by nostalgia instead of aesthetics: a timepiece, a button from my mother’s jacket, and a pin that was in my father’s memory box. Normally, I paint on a canvas, but this time I used multilayered cardboard. I peeled back the top layer from sections of the cardboard to reveal a layer of “honeycombs” underneath. I experimented with epoxy resin by filling the “combs” with dripping epoxy “honey.” I found some bee corpses inside my yellow jacket traps. I was glad for the loss of the jackets (I’m highly allergic), but I mourned the carpenter bees. This “mourning” triggered my first attempt at taxidermy and the subsequent incorporation of this experimentation into my work. I successfully removed the remaining debris from the abdomens of the carpenter bees, preserved them in resin, and placed them in and around the honeycombs. They are now a much-needed sign of hope amidst nostalgia and mourning.
Much Needed Signs of Hope and New Life, 2023
2023 Small Works All Media National Juried Exhibition
I would never have imagined that I would find myself on the outside. My old beliefs gave me a sense of belonging and my beliefs were validated by the people around me. That was when I was thinking inside the box. Now, I am “Outside the Box”: a misfit, outlier, dissenter, and even a bit of a deviant. I could have kept the box closed, folded all the simmering thoughts away, and locked the box tight. Instead, I let it open, and I let myself try life outside of it. The bud represents the unfurling of new thoughts, beliefs, and convictions lying within me and on the precipice of being released. The burgeoning flower in the box represents the unfolding of my mind. This unfolding is a flourishing of what was once buried. “Old Me” and “New Me.”
Old Me, New Me, 2023
Outside the Box, 2023
On exhibit at the Northville Art House from November 10th through December 16th, 2023
Experimentation, Exploration, and Exuberance: Give It a Try!
Alisa E. Clark, Juror for “Give it a Try!”, is an avid acrylic painter, sculptor, collage maker, and experimental assemblage artist who believes all artists can all benefit from stepping outside of their comfort zone and plunging into the experimental. With the opportunity to share exploratory works with other artists and the community, new discoveries sprout. The call to “Give it a try!” is an invitation to share new ideas and techniques through the creation and sharing of experimental works. Artists can answer this call by creating with a new medium, trying an unfamiliar artistic discipline, or creating something for a brand-new purpose: the possibilities for multi-media experimentation are endless. You get to decide how you will “Give It a Try!”
September 30 through November 4, 2023 at the South Haven Center for the Arts
Muskegon Museum of Art 94th Michigan Contemporary Art Exhibition
My first experience scuba diving left me wanting to touch everything I saw. Touching, however, is not allowed. I added 3D fiber elements to this 2D painting to rediscover the wonders I saw in the deep waters and allow myself to finally touch them.
Beneath It All, 2022
On exhibit at the Muskegon Museum of Art from September 28th through November 8th
Under the Big Top National Juried Exhibition
From the “Right Now,” I explore memories of “Yesterday” while reaching for possibilities within “What’s Next.” My liminal creations invite people on little adventures through time and space: fantastical journeys with the power to reach into the past, release imagination to the present moment, and explore imaginative possibilities in tomorrow. “Ten Rides on the Carousel” is a liminal journey back to one of my earliest recollections: my first trip to Central Park. No child would forget one ride on the park’s intricately carved, colorful creatures rising up and down in tandem upon the spinning, bejeweled platform. For me, it wasn’t just one ride. I got ten rides. These moments are quite ubiquitous: if not of a carousel, then it’s the memory is of some other primary, magical experience that’s seared into memory. The piece de resistance of “Ten Rides on the Carousel” is grasping the handle of the hand drill and driving the gears to make the carousel spin. I’d like to believe this creation would fascinate young children while simultaneously igniting memories of circuses, amusements parks, and other enthralling possibilities for people of all ages. Spanning time, “Ten Rides on the Carousel” is a gateway backwards and forwards from “Right Now” thus making all moments in time “in tandem.”
Ten Rides on the Carousel, 2023
Show Opens July 15th, 2023 at the Vestige Concept Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA
2023 Genesis Exhibition in Partnership with the Jewish Art Salon and CARAVAN, NYC, NY
My most recent body of work explores the theme of liminality. This theme, in great part, is concerned with the passing of time. “Time and Space” is about inception: when nothing became something. I tried to capture “the beginnings” that came from what, I imagine, was a completely empty space. This is what I see when I close my eyes and imagine that the clock just started ticking.
Time and Space, 2019
Show Opens May 1st, 2023 at the Interchurch Center in NYC, NY
Regional Juried Exhibition at the Kavanagh Gallery: From the Earth
My father was a scientist. He supplied me with a microscope and a rotating supply of slides to study: cells, algae, and other snippets from nature. We’d dig for slide samples from the earth or in the pond. “Under the Microscope” is inspired by all the strange and wonderful things I discovered. We also scraped the bottom of the pond with a strainer. We brought up tadpoles, and I studied their growth under various conditions. Arms and legs sprouted. Sometimes, a mutation emerged. “Look What Crawled Out of the Earth” is influenced by my many strange discoveries. I will often hunt for natural elements that interest me: unusual finds that remind me of my nature studies with Dad. “From the Earth” is a call that provided an opportunity to pick from my “finds” and then recreate my past discoveries. Artistic license freed me to add a twist of imagination to my creations. My unconventional choices were fueled by the surprises unearthed beneath the lens of my old microscope.
Under the Microscope and Look What Crawled Out of the Earth, 2023
Exhibition Opens at the Kavanagh Gallery on June 29th, 2023
The Art of a Story ~ 13th Annual National Juried Exhibit
I used a book I had written about my painting process to create “Memories.” The chance to capture “Memories” in 3D required me to alter the original text to add depth and dimension. I had to put aside my 2D canvases and find a new way to move in and out of space. Similarly, I decided to use a book that I once wrote about my art process as my canvas. “Journey” was made from this personal story. I altered it and embellished it with dimensional elements holding deep personal meaning. 3D expressions of my story let the viewer move through moments that have happened, are happening, and are to come. This creates an awareness of time shifting and changing: a liminal experience. This new process helps me better journey to Back Then, Right Now, and towards Tomorrow. Altering my autobiographical stories helped me express myself from many perspectives simultaneously.
Journey and Memories, 2023
Exhibition Opens on June 9th, 2023 at the Village Theatre Art Gallery, Danville, CA
ECVA: The Power in Creating a Series
I imagined the world as it began. Beauty springing forth from nothing. Time nonexistent and then existing. Liminality birthed. I then made several attempts at recreating it: what happened “in the beginning.” The first piece, Genesis 1, was intended to be five individual sculptures of angels in a series culminating in a final piece incorporating all the angels poised around a glowing “new earth.” Genesis 2, Genesis 3, and Genesis 4 incorporated angels into different “lighter” interpretations of Earth’s beginning. The butterflies in all four pieces are a reference to creatures “that may fly above the earth.” Genesis 1-4 are all on rotating bases made from wood and stained to appear as though covered in water. I have spent most of my life painting, but my new explorations in sculpture allowed me to capture more of what I imagine when I read Genesis 1. My favorite 3D part of all these pieces is the “glow.” The use of literal LED “light” (for me) captures a greater sense of God’s presence and power “in the beginning.”
Genesis 1-4, 2023
Great Northern Art Explosion International Juried Exhibition
Genesis 2 is on a rotating base made from maple wood and finshed to look like sky and water. The “glow” of literal “light” (for me) captures a greater sense of creation and its power “in the beginning.” “Plastic Menagerie” depicts a variety of plastics mixed with underwater life. Despite the dangers of plastics, “Plastic Menagerie” is teeming with life. Danger looms, but the message is, “It’s not too late.” “Plastic Menagerie” points to reusable options to slow climate change.
Genesis 2 and Plastic Menagerie, 2023
On Exhibit, at the AuSable Artisan Village, from August 25th to September 10th
Merged: d'Art's Third National Exhibition of Collage and Assemblage
I used both collage and assemblage to create my way through “My Journey.” I have included Yesterday, Right Now, and Tomorrow all at once through my creative process. I used gelli plate collage papers to cover the flaps and doors that open and close. I also incorporated hand drawings on paper and a reimagined lamp base, so the assemblage can spin with the turn of your hand. I wanted the viewer to move through time, place, and space. Doing this three dimensionally and interactively creates an awareness of time shifting and changing: a liminal experience.
My Journey, 2022
On Exhibit at the D’Art Center from Saturday, January 7, 2023 through Saturday, February 4, 2023
Small Works Juried All Media Exhibition
Using color, form, and line, I create in the present while wondering about Yesterday. I also seize “Right Now” while peeking into “What’s Next.” My liminal creations in this exhibit invite you to join me on creative, imaginative journeys through time and space. These works are little adventures in the “Here and Now.”
“Swimming Deeper” and “Unexpected Choices,” 2022
On Exhibit at the Northville Art House from November 12th through December 17th, 2022
Muskegon Museum of Art 93rd Michigan Contemporary Art Exhibition
The paper flowers that wrap around this sculpture are meant to evoke a feeling of life bursting from the earth in spring. They are covered with a light dusting of snow which appears to be melting. This sculpture spins on its base and has a wind-up music box that plays the song “Edelweiss.”
Edelweiss, 2022
On exhibit at the Muskegon Museum of Art from October 6th through November 3rd
Innovations 2022 Annual International Open Juried Exhibition
International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA)
I wanted to paint myself from the inside out. Working in 3D was a must. I also needed portals: doors, sky, air, water, and a way to move in and out of space. Experimenting with 2D and 3D expressions of these gateways was wholly necessary. This is my “old style” mixed with a new execution.
Self Portrait, 2022
“Self-Protrait is on exhibit at the Art Gallery of St. Albert, in St. Alberta, Canada from August 18th through October 1st, 2022
Everything Folds and Unfolds Regional Juried Exhibition
These two sculptures represent the unfurling of new thoughts, beliefs, and convictions lying within me and on the precipice of being released. The burgeoning flower in one box represents the unfolding of my mind. This unfolding is a flourishing of what was once buried: “Old Me” and “New Me.” My old beliefs gave me a sense of belonging and my beliefs were validated by the people around me. That was when I was thinking inside the box. Now, I am “Outside the Box”: a misfit, outlier, dissenter, and even a bit of a deviant. I could have kept the box closed, folded all the simmering thoughts away, and locked the box tight. Instead, I let it open, and I let myself try life outside of it.
“Outside the Box” and “Old Me, New Me,” 2022
On exhibit at the South Haven Center for the Arts from September 23rd through November 5th, 2022
(re)bound: the altered book International Juried Exhibition
I painted my way through my journey. I have included Yesterday, Right Now, and Tomorrow all at once. The flaps and doors that open and close let the viewer move through time, place, and space. Doing this three dimensionally creates an awareness of time shifting and changing: a liminal experience.
My Journey, 2022
On exhibit at the South Haven Center for the Arts from June 10 through July 23, 2022
A2AC Gallery Exhibit
The A2AC Gallery is in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The gallery exhibits works which support its goal to “emerge as a catalyst for connection, conversation, and creative exploration through participation.” Alisa E. Clark’s work will be on display and for sale at A2AC throughout the 2022-2023 exhibition year.
In the Ocean and Time and Space, 2022
Two works (“Deep Down” and “Underneath”) can be viewed and purchased by following this link to the A2AC Gallery website. You can also visit these works in person at the A2AC Gallery in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. “In the Ocean” and “Time and Space” (shown above) have been sold.
Composer and Pianist, Margin Alexander, Performs to Alisa E. Clark's Painting, "Funny Little Birds"
Performance Filmed from the South Oxford Theater in Brooklyn, NY
The entire Performance features several artist’s works combined with Margin Alexander’s musical compositions. It will be projected outside, at a future date, for the NYC community to experience.
University of North Carolina’s CAB Gallery Exhibition, 2022
It’s not what I thought it was. As the events of the past year have unfolded, I have had to refine what I believe. Now, I find myself where I don’t belong, and it’s a place that I once thought was home. I am leaving disillusioned.
Disillusioned, 2021
The last year has changed me. Everything I was taught, everything I believed to be true, and everything I once put my hope in no longer adds up. It’s all one giant contradiction.
Contradiction, 2021
Protest Signs Exhibition
Exhibit Closed April 1st, 2022
Episcopal Church and Visual Arts 2022-2023 Exhibitions
This collage of works for three 2022 ECVA calls includes images for the Sacrament and Image, Everywhere I Look, and Praying the Hours exhibitions. Answering ECVA calls since 2010, I have been offered multiple ways to explore a deeper understanding of “of an ever-evolving, transcending spirituality” through my creative process. With each call, I make art that pushes me. The process always leaves me changed and connects me with art makers who aren’t afraid to explore hard questions and seek for deeper answers.
ISEA Making Our Marks Exhibit, 2022
Getting 25 surrealistic approaches to work together on one canvas was daunting, but I was changed by the experience. Some of the elements got completely buried on my painting surface. Others remained front and center. As I played with the different approaches, I realized that my “usual” would never be the same again. The result feels odd to me. In the spirit of surrealism, this piece is strange. I don’t recognize this new artist. Is that really me?
Is That Really Me?, 2021
2022 Making Our Marks Exhibit with the International Society of Experimental Artists
ECVA Stories from the Road, 2022
I painted this vision from 2014 to sear its resulting epiphany into my heart with my paintbrush, so I will never forget. This, I attained to some degree. That is very good because this is what I have left at my spiritual bottom. This Christmas, and every Christmas to come, this will be the place from which I glean my faith.
From Where I Glean My Faith, 2021
I’m Sorry, 2021
I fell to my knees before Him and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Rockland Visual Arts Festival, New York, 2022
130 Talented Artists and Performers
Look beyond the red door and see what you can find. There are little, hidden surprises here: buried in time and memory but, like magic, can be rediscovered on my canvas. I paint to dig it all back up and remember.
Beyond the Red Door, 2021
The live festival runs from January 22nd through February 7th, 2022
International Society of Experimental Artists’ Juried Exhibition:
ISEA Utterly Unfathomable and Powerfully Profound, 2021
My choices are about expressing my inner experience. I could care less about being conventional. I need a color for all my uncertainty and a texture for all my grief. What can I find for my canvas that points me towards a new understanding? I have this jacket that was Mom’s. I slip pieces of it onto my canvas. I draw the front door from my childhood home, and I tuck it away in the shadows of my work. I draw these funny little birds that squawk, tumble, spin, and teeter on the surface of my creation. I see that each bird is me as I tumultuously try to find solid ground. I do this all for hours: choosing colors, shapes, objects, and significance. Words wrap the canvas, but they are garbled and seemingly senseless. I wonder if others will think I have lost my mind? These are odd choices, but I didn’t mean to do something out of the ordinary. I was just lost in the process. I guess you could say this works was one big experiment, but that wasn’t the plan. This is simply what came out of me.
Funny Little Birds, 2019
The Quarantine Artwork of the Artists of ECVA, 2021
Alisa looks back on a lifetime of art making, and she sees creativity’s gift of “flow” during the countless times of sitting and waiting for time to do its work within her. She sees that her creative process was with her whether the hands of time moved too fast or too slow. She also notices that in the most challenging times- the moments when time seemed to not move at all- her creative process was her great companion. When engaged in this process, Alisa has her most profound spiritual experiences. Art is a gift that provides her much connectedness, meaning, and joy.
Exhibit opens on September 13th, 2021
St. Vincent College Verostko Arts Center, 2021
I am enraptured by the idea that Mary carried God incarnate inside her womb. I like to think that this supplied enough holy power to ignite a spiritual fire inside her. I painted “Madonna on Fire” with the same wonderment I had as a child. She’s not God but she birthed Him. How could she not glow from the inside out? I believe Mary was ablaze and that’s why, and how, I painted her.
Madonna on Fire, 2019
September 6th through October 29th, 2021
Learn about “Madonna On Fire” in David Brinker’s Lecture Here:
View All the Entries to the 8th Annual Catholic Biennial Here:
Learn More About the Vertosko Art Center Here:
Edward A. Dixon Gallery Juried Exhibition, 2021
I paint what fascinates me. I explore memories. I find joy in the present moment. I paint it all as I see it. It all makes my “Right Now” a good place to be.
I Find Joy, 2021
International Society of Experimental Artists 2021 Exhibition, Mission Point Resort, Mackinac Island, Michigan
Exhibition Opens September 3rd, 2021
I just can’t do it anymore. Impulse is telling me that it’s time to investigate, explore, and break the rules. I let loose when I made this painting. It will likely lead to little approval, but at least I am satisfied.
Go Back, Move Forward, 2020
Alisa's Art Takes a Journey: Small Works National Juried Exhibition!
December 2019 through February 2020
323 Buena Vista, NY is about a door and the people who have entered it. Painting it helps me in my process of accepting—accepting that I won’t be able to use this door for very much longer. I paint to continue turning the knob of this door, and the knobs of the doors beyond this door, so I can see what was once on the other side. I am stuck here, so I paint it over and over and over again, so I can find my way back.
323 Buena Vista, NY, 2019
2021 Small Works - Big Talent International Exhibition at Las Laguna Gallery, CA
Stuff Long Forgotten, 2021
SHCA 2020 Artist and Artisan Holiday Gallery
Collection of Small Works by Alisa E. Clark,
2020
View the Gallery Here:
View the Blog and Video Spotlight Here:
Fantastical Flora and Fauna Regional Exhibition, 2020
Space Between, 2020
The Color of Music Art Exhibit:
A show of works from across the country that are no greater than 10 inches in any direction.
I Know My Song, 2020
d'Art Center National Juried Exhibition
Everyone, 2020
Norfolk, VA, National Exhibit (Exhibit Closed)
39th Annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition
Hello, Hope, 2020
ECVA Universal Christ Exhibit
Reflections Magazine Cover Art, Yale School of Divinity
Yale School of Divinity Shares “Joined Together”
ECVA Exhibition
Episcopal Church of the Visual Arts
Road Home, Acrylic on Canvas
Exhibiting Artist: Alisa E. Clark
Exhibition Archives
MEA Art Acquisitions Juried Exhibit
2013 (East Lansing, MI)
Small Matters of Great Importance
2000 (Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY)
Snow Den Gallery
Works on Exhibit, 1998 (West Dover, VT)
Art in Bloom Juried Exhibition
1996 (Hopper House, Nyack, NY)
Hayloft Gallery
Works on Exhibit, 1996 (West Dover, VT)
30 Bond Street
Works on Exhibit, 1994-1995 (New York, NY)
Art on the Common Juried Exhibition
Honorable Mention, 1995 (Highland Mills, NY)