Lia Halloran is now a globally recognized artist creating massive, surreal images of space and sky, and at the heart of her story and creative inspiration is a passion for skateboarding, as well as physics and astronomy!
Lia “was born in Chicago, IL, and grew up surfing and skateboarding in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Pacifica, CA” according to her webpage. She was first given a skateboard at the age of five, and at the age of 15 Lia was featured in Thrasher magazine in their December 1992 issue (misspelled as “Lea”) within an article simply called “50 Skaters.” The only other female skateboarder included among the fifty skaters was Saecha Clarke.
Lia continues to skate (her favourite terrain is bowls) and now lives in Los Angeles. Her artwork is amazing! She has been collected by the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, among many other galleries and private collectors.
One of her earlier collaborative photography series, “Dark Skate” from 2007 was directly inspired by her skateboarding through the use of bike lights and strobe lights at night, leaving only traces of her presence as she skated within and across obstacles. DCKT Contemporary gallery in New York showcased this solo exhibition in July – September 2008. And, Lia was included in a group show curated by Cynthia Connolly called “Skateboard Side Effects” in Virginia, in the fall of 2010.
In a YouTube interview with Velvetpark Media back in December 2007, Lia acknowledged that skateboarders always see their environment in a different way, and that even though her images for “Dark Skate” weren’t intended to be about skateboarding culture, they were still “self portraits of where I’ve been” (Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, Vienna) and a way to capture the feeling and physics behind skateboarding.
Lia reached out to share a skate video she helped create called “RIB DEATH” (2008), which features her skateboarding crew from L.A. including Azjah Macklin, Melissa Spillman, Brynn Horrocks, and Mai Lei Robinson. Lia explains the origins of “rib death,” a term she coined after a bail during a rail-slide resulting in a broken rib and six months recovery. It seemed like a great name for their skate club!
Definitely check out her artist’s webpage and Instagram account for further inspiration and to see her current portfolio! Lia is also a professor of art at Chapman University, and has co-chaired the LGBTQ advisory group to insure that students of diverse backgrounds and identities feel seen and included on campus.
Womxn Skateboard History 