Lisa L. Kriner is an associate professor and director of visual arts at Berea College in Kentucky. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Technology at North Carolina State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Fibers at the University of Kansas. Kriner’s fiber art explores the formation of identity through tensions between being rooted in community and the desire for personal movement and freedom. She portrays this conflict to be challenging as she is equally moved by strong roots—the big white oak in her yard and the deep-rooted grasses of the western planes—as by the constant movement of migrating birds, ocean tides, and wind and water currents.
Currently my art explores the formation of identity through tensions between being rooted in community and the desire for personal movement and freedom. I have always found this conflict to be challenging as I’m equally moved by strong roots – the big white oak in my yard and the deep-rooted grasses of the western planes – as I am by the constant movement of migrating birds, ocean tides, and wind and water currents. This exploration acknowledges that I may constantly be moving through the spaces between these two dichotomies, not quite choosing – the way a boat moves from land to sea and birds from ground to sky. Perhaps it is only in that space between awake and those first dreams of sleep that I can achieve my perfect balance – quietly occupying and observing those liminal spaces.
- University of Kansas – MFA, Fibers.
- North Carolina State University – BS, Textile Technology: concentration – Design. Minors: Fiber and Surface Design and History.
Professor of Art;
Morris B. Belknap, Jr. Chair in Fine Arts;
Director of Visual Art;
Chair of the Art & Art History Department
NAFTAE 