Lisa Bulawsky (born 1962) is a St. Louis-based printmaker who works across prints on paper, installation, participatory projects and temporary public art. Her work explores time as it appears in the natural world, in public history and in individual lived experience.
Born in Sunnyvale, California, Bulawsky received a BA in studio art from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1989 and an MFA in printmaking from the University of Kansas in 1995. She has taught at Washington University in St. Louis since 1996 and is Professor of Art at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, where she has directed Island Press, its research-based printmaking workshop, since 2011. From 2020 to 2024 she chaired the school’s MFA in Visual Art program.
A founding member of the Fifty-Fifty art collective, Bulawsky has presented its project on sea level rise, Portable Memories in Rising Seas, in Key West, Miami and at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. Her work has also been shown at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum in Roanoke, Virginia, and the Dalarnas Museum in Sweden, and is in collections including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Spencer Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp.
Her honors include a 2025 MacDowell Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts regional fellowship and residencies at Bowdoin College and Hollins University. She joined Bruno David Gallery in 2018 and has presented two solo exhibitions there, Everything is Still Happening (2018) and there are millions of suns left (2023).
SELECTED WORKS
Lisa Bulawsky The doubt of being (a certain solid), 2023 Ink and collage on Evolon AP paper mounted on canvas 55 1/2 x 43 1/2 in. (141 x 110.5 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky The doubt of being (disassembled), 2023 Ink and collage on Evolon AP paper mounted on canvas 43 1/2 x 59 1/2 in. (110.5 x 151.1 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky The doubt of being (from the bottom up), 2023 Ink and collage on Evolon AP paper mounted on canvas 44 1/4 x 59 1/2 in. (112.4 x 151.1 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky The doubt of being (where the treasure lies), 2023 Ink and collage on Evolon AP paper mounted on canvas 44 3/4 x 59 3/4 in. (113.7 x 151.8 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky NP-C009_History7, 2015 Hand-printed collage on inkjet print made from scanned newsprint backing sheet 30 x 42 in. (76.2 x 106.7 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky NP-C016_Pollock_Woodcut_Square, 2017 Hand-printed collage on inkjet print made from scanned newsprint backing sheet 32 x 44 in. (81.3 x 111.8 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky NP-C017_Newsprint10, 2016 Hand-printed collage on inkjet print made from scanned newsprint backing sheet 44 x 68 in. (111.8 x 172.7 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky NP-C019_Newsprint28, 2018 Hand-printed collage on inkjet print made from scanned newsprint backing sheet 31 3/8 x 44 in. (79.7 x 111.8 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky NP-C_015_Newsprint13, 2018 Hand-printed collage on inkjet print made from scanned newsprint backing sheet 44 x 63 1/2 in. (111.8 x 161.3 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky The doubt of being (the obvious whole), 2020 Monotype and printed collage on Evolon 60 x 44 in. (152.4 x 111.8 cm)
Lisa Bulawsky Untitled, 2019 Mixed media, print on paper over board 12 x 9 x 1 1/2 in. (30.5 x 22.9 x 3.8 cm)
EXHIBITIONS
BRUNO DAVID GALLERY, ST. LOUIS
there are millions of suns left
Solo exhibition
2 September – 28 October 2023
BRUNO DAVID GALLERY, ST. LOUIS
Everything is Still Happening
Solo exhibition
8 June – 10 August 2018
NEWS
AWARD
Lisa Bulawsky awarded MacDowell Fellowship
Sam Fox School, Washington University in St. Louis, March 2025
GROUP EXHIBITION
After Life (we survive) | Fifty-Fifty
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, November 2020 – January 2021
APPOINTMENT
Bulawsky to Chair MFA in Visual Art Program
Sam Fox School, Washington University in St. Louis, June 2020
PUBLICATIONS
SELECTED PRESS
FEATURE
WashU Spaces: Dubinsky Printmaking Studio
The Source (Washington University in St. Louis), Liam Otten, December 2018
REVIEW
In “Everything is Still Happening,” Lisa Bulawsky reimagines discarded pieces from her previous works
St. Louis Magazine, Daniel Stumeier, July 2018
REVIEW
Lisa Bulawsky at Hollins University
Temporary Art Review, Stephanie Schlaifer, March 2015
REVIEW
Review: Bulawsky captures memories
St. Louis Public Radio (St. Louis Beacon), Ivy Cooper, September 2011