About/Contact/News

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

CONTACT

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.

SOCIAL MEDIA

General studio: Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Tumblr
Illustration: Instagram • YouTube • TikTok
Fine Art: Instagram • YouTube
Music: Links on The Mothermold page in MUSIC

SCHOOL RESOURCES

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

NEWS/EVENTS

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.

EMAIL LIST

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