Houston native Lalena Fisher studied journalism at UT-Austin,
followed by a year abroad at la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Mexico.
She earned her MFA in painting
at Pratt Institute in New
York while assisting Matthew Barney. She later
designed for the shows Blue’s Clues
and The Wonder Pets; and created information
graphics for The New York Times.
Now based in Austin, Fisher
makes children's books including
Friends Beyond Measure: A Story Told With Infographics
(HarperCollins); provides graphic design for clients;
and rocks out with her
daughter as
The Mothermold.
She speaks Spanish, and is a member of the
Girllustrators. /
Résumé • Fine Art CV
Email: Fish at LalenaFisher dot com
Agent for children's books: Lara Perkins at
Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Studio newsletter signup at bottom of page.
General studio:
Facebook •
Twitter •
LinkedIn •
Tumblr
Illustration:
Instagram •
YouTube •
TikTok
Fine Art:
Instagram •
YouTube
Music: Links on The Mothermold page in MUSIC
Author visit presentations:
PDF onesheet
Visit scheduling and pricing: Please email Sarah at HowNowBooking dot com
How Now Booking
Printable activity sheets: Available on
my website as well as
TeachersPayTeachers and
Pinterest
Friends Beyond Measure named a "Best of 2023"
children's book by Kirkus Reviews, the Chicago Public Library, and
NPR's Science Friday
Read more in ILLUSTRATION/BOOKS
Featured on the statewide NPR program Texas Standard, produced by KUT
Lalena shared the background and inspiration behind Friends Beyond Measure on the radio and online.
Read the story here.
Interview with the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators
Entertaining chat delving into Lalena's childhood, proudest moments, and random trivia.
Read the interview here.
Studio newsletter, May 2023
Read the newsletter here.
Interview with Nightingale, publication of the Data Visualization Society
Fun and thought-provoking chat with Ana Paula Lamberti Bertol,
who challenged Fisher to, among other things, draw a Venn diagram of her influences in art and data.
Read the interview here.
Children's book: Friends Beyond Measure: A Story Told With Infographics
Published in 2023 by HarperKids, Fisher's debut children's picture book as an author-illustrator uses
hand-drawn charts and graphs to explore the friendship of Ana and Harwin before
and after Harwin's family decides to move away. An entirely original mode of
storytelling
said Booklist; and Friends Beyond Measure has
received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, The Horn Book and School Library Journal.
Read more about, and order, Friends Beyond Measure in ILLUSTRATION/BOOKS
Album release: Flesh of My Flesh by The Mothermold
In October 2022, Fisher and her teenage daughter released their debut
metallic art punk
album which they started recording during the 2020
pandemic lockdown and completed last year. The duo delves into Greek mythology,
heroines, and coming-of-age across 11 original heavy and melodic songs.
Links to stream and purchase Flesh of My Flesh in MUSIC
Austin Studio Tour
For
Big Medium's online, 2020 version of its annual art event, Fisher opened her studio virtually
to share the thought processes behind her work while creating a mixed-media painting.
She also led an all-ages workshop with fellow artist
Luz Marie Iturbe.
Both recordings are available on Fisher's
artist page of the
Austin Studio Tour website.
Assemble to Disassemble
Fisher's installation was shown at Harvard University's Smith
Center in early 2020 along with the work of Mison Kim and Naomi Spinak.
To open Assemble to Disassemble at Harvard, the Graduate School of Design and Harvard Office for the Arts hosted
a town-hall discussion with the artists in the Smith Center Commons, on the topic What Can Arts Activism Accomplish?
In 2019, Fisher created an art installation in the Texas Capitol Ground Floor Rotunda
for the first week of the 86th Legislative session. Moved by the
determination of young people who marched nationwide in 2018 to demand sensible
gun regulation, she titled the work Assemble to Disassemble, and
invited two other artists,
Mison Kim and
Naomi Spinak
to exhibit their work alongside hers. The show intended to provide different
perspectives on the foundations of, effects of, and responses to gun culture.
The Austin American-Statesman article •
The Austin American-Statesman video
Glasstire
Sight Lines
Harvard press release
OffWEST In 2017, LalenaLab hosted an exhibition using our four spaces
to show the fine art work of
Yareth Fernandez,
Michele Hogan,
Marilyn Darrell,
and Lalena Fisher.
The event included performances by
Cienfuegos,
Screen Door Slammers, and The Mothermold.
Guests enjoyed refreshments from sponsors
Bouldin Creek Cafe and
Slow Pokes Brisket Shack.
More about OffWEST may be read on the
Off WEST press release.
Photos from the event are posted in the Off WEST
LalenaLab Facebook photo album;
videos on the
main page.
Artist Talk Fisher gave an artist talk at City Hall in June 2016, which may be streamed on the
City of Austin website; the segment lasts 15 minutes, from 19:42-34:24.