Lisa McShane

Lisa McShane creates large, luminous landscapes of the deep waters, rivers, forests, and land she knows. Her great-grandparents on both sides were settlers near the Columbia and Snake Rivers in eastern Washington and she grew up hearing family stories of farming and how the Columbia used to be. Her father was in the Air Force and her earliest drawings were of the roads and mountains she saw on road trips home to Connell. She began painting at 12 when her mother signed her up for lessons with an artist. Every Saturday for two years she went to that studio to paint and to this day Saturdays are dedicated to painting. Today she lives in northwest Washington. For decades she’s worked for conservation groups and Tribes to restore the once-great salmon runs to our rivers and to protect the land and waters of Washington State. These are the waters and landscapes she paints. 

Lisa has had residencies in National Parks and Monuments, and her paintings have been exhibited in the American Embassy in Yemen and the Washington State Governor’s Mansion. Her recent paintings of the Skagit River delta showing the impact of sea level rise are on display in the Washington State Treasurer’s Office. Her work has been displayed at the Bainbridge Museum of Art, the Museum of NW Art, and the Whatcom Museum. She has had eight solo shows in the past decade. Her studio is on Samish Island, overlooking Padilla Bay, and surrounded by 15 acres of forest.