Spotlight CAA Members: Lisa McElroy

I’m a mixed media artist, working in collage, assemblage and illustration. I turned 60 this year but I still think of myself as an “art kid.” My mom’s creative, and she taught me to read and encouraged me to draw before I started school, in San Francisco in the 60s. I remember drawing animals around age three with a pencil on lined paper, and I am still doing that. 

After a brief move to North Hollywood where bouffant hair and cat-eye makeup were popular looks that I continue to find inspirational, my family settled in Concord and that’s where I grew up throughout the 70s. Our house near the base of Mt. Diablo was surrounded by abandoned orchards and our street ended at a hillside where sheep grazed every morning. I’m sure my love of observing and being in the natural world began in Concord. 

I moved back to San Francisco when I was 18 to study film at SFSU and I had a lot of jobs and “projects” going on throughout the 80s and 90s. A short list: 

• College radio DJ and music reviewer and comics-drawer for magazines and zines. 

• Lots of nonprofit arts admin and temp jobs. 

• Drummer, singer, composer for garage band She Mob. 

• Film production worker, including visual effects assistance--mostly writing and organizing, but sometimes shooting and editing and making short films and music videos. 

• Website builder, when sites were written in HTML. 
  

After getting an MFA in film and thinking I’d be a professor, I ended up being mostly a mom instead. My son Jackson is now getting his grad degree and he is my favorite person. I started making art fulltime several years ago after I realized I missed it. I probably should have focused on art more in general, but I was busy (see list). Art is a huge joy in my life. When I make art things, I feel like I’m most myself. I’m also writing and illustrating for independent films too, so at least I’m using my degree for something. Maybe I’ll teach next.