Lisa L. Sears is a Malden-based fine artist who creates paintings and drawings in water-based media on paper and canvas. Her work has been described as symbolic, mythic, emotional, colorful and sometimes a bit nightmarish or dreamlike, depending on the viewer’s perspective.
Sears is dedicated to the arts in Malden and to making art available to the community. She has been involved in Malden public arts projects, including several years past with Window Arts Malden, the Switchbox Project and “Pictures at an Exhibition Reframed” (a free piano concert and art exhibit organized by Malden Creates), and she was a recipient of two Malden Cultural Council grants for “Lines Connecting Lines” – a collaboration between area poets and artists held in 2015 and again in 2022. Additionally, the artist was involved in the workings of Malden Pops Up, a temporary gallery on Main Street, and she participated in its later restructuring as The Gallery Inc., serving as Exhibit Coordinator and Curator for six months. She has also enjoyed exhibiting her work locally at the Malden Public Library and Gallery UMA.
Her most recent works have been on exhibit at the Malden Public Library (December 2022). They are “About Face,” a collection of paintings, and “Tiny But Mighty,” a collection of small works on paper. Sears described the “About Face” exhibit: “What we reveal or conceal is shown in body language – through our hands, gestures and posture – but much more can be learned by observing the face. Even as we choose, to a large degree, what we wish to share with others, in relaxed or distracted moments a truer state is exposed in our facial expressions. With these paintings I wanted to move beyond mere surface to concentrate on the subjects’ internal experience and feelings.”