• Home
  • About
  • Mass Cultural Council Support for Artists
  • Contact

Massachusetts Cultural Council

ArtSake - New work & the creative process

  • Artist Opportunities
  • Creative Space Classifieds
  • Artist Voices
  • Useful Links
You are here: Home / crafts / Lisa Nilsson: Spell-binding Art in Paper

Lisa Nilsson: Spell-binding Art in Paper

October 23, 2015 Leave a Comment

Creating intricate works using a traditional paper technique called quilling, Lisa Nilsson doesn’t mind working slowly. But when her spell-binding art went viral, her career went through a swift transformation.

Lisa’s work was recently featured in the Mass Cultural Council Awardees in Crafts and Sculpture/Installation/New Genres exhibit at the New Art Center in Newton.

Mass Cultural Council is celebrating 40 Years of Fellowships by sharing video interviews with some of the extraordinary artists who have received Artist Fellowships since the program’s inception in 1975.

  • On Mass Cultural Council’s YouTube Channel, experience the stories of some of the amazing artists we’ve funded over the last 40 years.
  • If you’re a past Fellow or Finalist of the program, sign our Alumni Book to get back in touch and share your own story.
  • Contact us if you have ideas for the project.

Video Credits: images courtesy of Lisa Nilsson (Crafts Fellow ’15) and Pavel Zoubok Gallery; title animation by Basia Goszczynska (Film & Video Fellow ’13); intro music by Laura Andel (Music Composition Fellow ’99), “Sao Dao,” BMI ©1997, performed by the Laura Andel Orchestra; montage and closing music by Scott Wheeler (Music Composition Fellow ’05), “City of Shadows,” BMOP/sound ©2014, performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, conducted by Gil Rose; video footage from Lisa’s 2012 TEDMED talk courtesy of TEDMED.

Share this:

  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • More
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Filed Under: crafts, fellowships, paper, video Tagged With: #YayArtists, 40 Years of Fellowships, anatomical, cross sections, filigree, Lisa Nilsson, North Adams, paper, quilling, Tissue Series

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Join our Artist News email list

Mass Cultural Council Gallery

View more than 3,000 works by Mass Cultural Council’s Artist Fellows & Finalists online

Categories

  • accessibility (40)
  • advocacy (85)
  • archival image (410)
  • art + science (21)
  • artist to artist (104)
  • artist voices (422)
  • arts business (139)
  • arts education (6)
  • arts law (14)
  • business of art (10)
  • call to artists (895)
  • ceramics (37)
  • communities (5)
  • conceptual art (16)
  • covid-19 (25)
  • crafts (147)
  • creative individuals (11)
  • creative space (48)
  • cross-sector resource (33)
  • crowdfunding (21)
  • cyber art (35)
  • dance (145)
  • digital art (1)
  • DIY (15)
  • documentary (5)
  • drawing (171)
  • emerging (9)
  • environmental art (89)
  • fellows notes (210)
  • fellowships (96)
  • fiber (5)
  • fiction (34)
  • film/video (261)
  • from the archives (6)
  • funding (313)
  • glass (1)
  • go local (1)
  • guest blogger (26)
  • honors (41)
  • installation art (153)
  • international (1)
  • interview (104)
  • literature (382)
  • live-work space (1)
  • metalwork (4)
  • mixed media (91)
  • music (162)
  • nano-interview (88)
  • nonfiction (23)
  • open studios (43)
  • opera (4)
  • our events (44)
  • our exhibitions (56)
  • painting (259)
  • paper (7)
  • performance art (24)
  • philanthropy (6)
  • photography (219)
  • playwriting (23)
  • poetry (65)
  • professional development (154)
  • public art (114)
  • reading (7)
  • recent posts (977)
  • residencies (227)
  • screenwriting (20)
  • sculpture (162)
  • skills building (81)
  • storytelling (1)
  • studio views (63)
  • teaching artists (1)
  • technology (2)
  • textile (8)
  • theater (185)
  • three stages (17)
  • tips (100)
  • traditional arts (54)
  • trends (123)
  • video (15)
  • visual arts (79)

Homepage banner artwork: Detail of "folding a season" (2016, acrylic on board, 27x24 in) by Ilana Manolson (Mass Cultural Council Painting Fellow ’08, ’18).

Copyright © 2026 · Mass Cultural Council

privacy policy · terms & conditions of use · access policy

%d