Lisa Draper Biography

Flame bursts from the torch, glowing blue and blowing sound.  As the heat sweeps across the medium, small bubbles burst and the surface once puckered, now lies smooth.  Lisa focuses for a moment on a speck of dust.  “These break up the surface, I like my work to look like glass” she explains.  A twinge of anxiety comes as the area puckers, and then it’s over. The dust is gone and she’s moved on.  

Sitting in Lisa’s studio in Lehi, Utah, brings an odd mix of reckless speed and slow change.  She views this as a metaphor for her life, and the interaction she experiences with everything - and every person.  Interaction is the overarching theme for Lisa’s work, and her life. 

The oldest granddaughter of professional artist Carol Gerlach, she began painting in her grandmother’s studio at the age of 2. 

Lisa was born in the green city of Belleview, Washington.  She spent the most memorable years of her childhood there, and loved the feeling that the Earth was alive.  Water and rich soil supported plants and animals in abundance, and she thrived along with them. She describes her childhood as "idyllic", living on 20 acres of forest an hour outside Seattle. 

The nearest neighbor was a quarter mile down the road, and there were very few kids her age close by. Because of this, Lisa spent the majority of her childhood observing the annual life cycle of the Earth, and learning from the plants and animals in the region.  There was a Bald Eagle’s nest nearby, and her family cultivated a 30 tree orchard and large garden. In addition, a flock of ducks provided fresh eggs and joyful companionship, with new ducklings every year. The livelihood of the backyard also drew many beautiful predators.  Bald Eagles, Owls, Coyote, and Bobcat were spotted regularly around the home. Cougars came when those didn’t, and Lisa herself survived an encounter with this massive predator as a child.

In addition to the joy of backyard Earthly beauty, both of Lisa’s parents earned their pilot’s licenses when Lisa was young.  She spent many, many hours in the back of their small, 4-seat Piper Cherokee airplane, viewing the Earth in all its beauty and terror from high above.  This airplane served as a large source of family memories. Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, the Redwood Forest, Palm Springs, and many more treasured places and even more treasured relatives were visited in the few years her family owned their aircraft.

From the ages of 10-12, Lisa’s father, Brett Gerlach, completed an MBA through Wharton’s Executive Program in San Francisco.  He would fly out every other week, and worked tirelessly. The first year, he was also working full-time at Microsoft. The second, he was building his own software company from scratch.  Launching it with the help of a group within his MBA. All the while, still working to be a supportive and loving husband and father she admired.

Watching the sacrifice her family undertook to help Brett complete his MBA and begin a startup was unlike anything Lisa had seen before.  The difficult, even extreme lengths she watched her father go through to maintain a semblance of balance physically, spiritually, intellectually, and in his relationships created a pattern Lisa herself used later on, as both her and her husband went on to found companies.

Brett would get up at 4am and exercise for 15 minutes, as hard and fast as he could.  He would then get ready, study scripture, then schoolwork until breakfast time. Breakfast was family time.  He would make pancakes every morning, talk and read scriptures with the group. Then he would leave for work, taking the bus to gain an extra hour of studying each direction.  After Brett got home, he would study until dinner.  The family would then spend time together for a bit, and he would return to studying.  8pm, all brushed teeth and got ready for bed, then gathered for family prayer. Kids and Mom headed to bed, and Brett would stay up an extra 2 hours, then promptly go to bed, to begin it all over again at 4am.

On weekends he wasn’t at school, the kids rotated through one-on-one dates. 

“I don’t remember him ever missing these special times.  We would choose the activity together, and talk and laugh.  Those dates helped us get through times we felt we didn’t see Dad much.  Mom got a weekly date as well.”

On Sundays he was in town, Brett would mentally rest and recover before diving back into his grueling schedule again for 2 weeks.  There would be no work, or homework. If a particularly tight deadline came up, he would choose to instead work until Midnight Saturday night, and begin at midnight Monday morning rather than break the Sabbath. 

“I truly believe this self-mandated break is what kept him sane through those 2 years of focused effort.  After all, he was not only responsible to himself and his education, but the lives of 7 dependents. I think pulling back in every respect every 2 weeks for a whole day allowed him to physically and mentally push through.”

He graduated top of his class, and the software company he founded, Brevium, still thrives today. 

When she was 12, at the beginning of the 2008 housing crisis, Lisa’s father completed his MBA program, and moved their entire software company to Utah - chasing family connections and a lower cost of living.  Lisa has lived in various areas in this mountainous state since.

She recalls the shock of moving from the large green acreage to a comparatively bare suburban development in the Utah Valley: “In those years I struggled to see the beauty in the rugged slopes around me.  Since then, I have grown to see the treasures in my home state. Fast-moving rivers contrast with glass-like reservoirs in the mountains just a short drive from my home.  I love to spend time in these canyons, and again study the beauty of the seasons, just as I did as a child. When I feel cold, I can drive to the southern end of my state and spend time in Arches, Zion, Bryce, Canyonland, or Capitol Reef National Park.  Every time I step into one of these locations my breath is taken away.”

Lisa draws inspiration from the landscapes she has walked through all her life, and the people she encounters.  The emotions she feels as she creates, and what she has learned from her family and others day by day, week by week, year by hear.  Interaction on top of interaction creates movement. Energy, joy, sorrow, pain. Loss of interaction breeds solitude, loneliness, and in turn, internal interaction.  A fascinating spur that never seems to stop, or present opportunities for exploration with color, assemblage, fluid, and flame.

Looking back over Lisa’s life, it is clear that every step plays into the development of something strong.  Not the personality to back down once a goal is in hand, “tenacious” is almost putting it mildly for this woman.  

Lisa’s parents, Brett and Vicki Gerlach, worked very hard to nurture their children’s interests and natural gifts.  Exploration of all interests as much as possible was their goal. Lisa explored many loves as a child, including art, singing, piano, flute, violin, writing poetry and novellas, reading, horseback riding, gymnastics, jewelry making (from rock gathering to tumbling to the final product), trail-making, etc. 

However, Lisa had a practical streak, and despite continually enjoying rigorous art training as a child, and some success on the local show circuit, she chose to go a different direction by the she hit college.  She entered Brigham Young University in 2010, beginning her collegiate years a mere 2 weeks after her 17th birthday. She began studying English, with a hope of teaching Shakespeare at a University level. After a year, Dr. Peer’s mesmerizing habit of walking into class and translating literary classics from their original language on the spot pushed her to switch to Comparative Literature.  She spent 1 semester of her college experience studying nothing but languages, experiencing a bit of Biblical Hebrew, Attic Greek, German and Italian.

After struggling to get a solid foundation in so many languages at once, and realizing her college years needed to end in less than a decade, Lisa shifted to her view to Psychology.

Art threaded through Lisa’s life in a small way - a painting here, a mural there.  Workshops and art dates with her grandmother. A portrait every now and again. Study hours spent on benches in the BYU Museum of Art instead of the Library.  But always with a view of this as a release - a hobby. Lisa believed in “checking boxes” early in life, a view that has caused her to, later in life, develop a new appreciation for stillness. 

Lisa graduated high school by 16, and moved to college 2 weeks after turning 17. Being thrown into an independent situation so early in life was equal parts exciting and frightening.  By her sophomore year, she felt there was a dormant part of herself that was suffering in disuse. Every time she created art it warmed in hope.

Ever the practical one, Lisa married a man with a promising career a mere week after turning 19.  At 20, she gave birth to her first child, and 6 months later, graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. In the span of 18 months, with a marriage, birth, and graduation, she was suddenly thrown into full adulthood, while still being underage in many regards.

In this era of extreme change, Lisa chose to slow down to get through the early months of her child’s life.  For the first time ever, her quickly-changing pace of life seemed to grind to an unceremonious halt. The days stretched out to eternity, and though she appreciated the opportunity to rest and recover, Lisa felt completely underutilized, while being simultaneously completely overstretched.  A place of opposites resulting in a feeling of exhausted isolation.

“I was being physically and emotionally challenged to and often past my limits, but felt there was no real intellectual portion of my life.  In an effort to use “all of me” I began to take online classes.  Computer programming. Accounting. Art History. Whatever I could get my hands on.”

Lisa also began riding horses again - a beloved love from her childhood. She soon bought a retired racehorse and worked on training him to show worthy with the help of a trainer.  She also taught horseback riding, and gained friendships and physical/social/mental stimulation she craved.

Cue the second child, at the ripe old age of 21.  This time, things were different. A darkness came into Lisa’s life she’d never experienced before.  She became obsessed with escaping her home. The Draper family sold their horse to make time and resources for other interests, and Lisa began taking her children across the country.  As far away as she could get from the place where the walls closed in.

“When I was home, I broke out my paints to distract myself.  I felt that sense of “aliveness” once more, and began teaching art classes out of my home studio - a large shed in our backyard.“

Lisa created her first website in 2016, under “Inspirations Art Studio”, and began selling art in small ways.  Her first commission she completed for the promise of a mere $50. It was a symbolic work celebrating the client’s recent marriage. Upon completion, Lisa was informed that the client had filed for divorce, and didn’t want the painting.  The $50 remained unpaid.

Sales came in bit by bit.  A piece here and a piece there.  All commissions initially.

“I suddenly realized this was unsustainable when I shipped a piece to an out-of-state client, and came home to realize that after materials and shipping, I had only made $15 for 8-10 hours of work.  My work was decent, but a combination of lack of experience in marketing, and frankly, the art world, was holding me back. I needed more experience, better presentation, and more drive.”

Lisa threw herself into training.  She completed a mural at the world-renowned Huntsman Cancer Institute as part of a team.  She took figure study at the Visual Arts Institute of Utah. She traveled to out-of-state workshops, and began attending art events at every level she could find.

Around this time of growth and discovery, Lisa and her husband Paul were gifted a weekend at a hotel in Park City, UT courtesy of his company.  Having never been there before (neither of them ski), they were shocked to find that Main Street was packed with galleries.

“We began walking through, and a sense of sacred reverence washed over me.  I could feel a weight lifted off my shoulders, and my body and soul slipped into peace.It was fate.  We walked into a gallery to see a whiskey barrel full of goldfish.  We’re talking 60, full sized, casting shadows on one another. My mind was blown.  It was so real and lifelike, and yet unmoving. After standing slack-jawed for a minute, I asked the gallerist about the artist’s process.  She retrieved a single fish in a small plastic container, and popped it out for me to see. It was 16 layers of epoxy, with a small amount of acrylic paint on each to create a lifelike 3D effect.  Each fish in the barrel had been created with this same process. I was stunned.”

This had a profound effect on Lisa.  She returned from that weekend, and bought epoxy from the local hardware store.  “Which is not where I get my materials now” she notes with a laugh.

She purchased a small craft bowl and created an orchid in 6 layers over the course of a week.  It was beautiful and lifelike, but also felt like a trinket. It didn’t feel to be the high-end piece of art she wanted it to be.  She set it aside and began researching how to create wall art with epoxy.

This initial exposure was in 2016.  Since that time, Lisa has created a process that she is proud of, and continues to push the limits on material, gravity, the laws of physics, and her own mind.  Her award-winning art hangs in private and corporate collections internationally, and is best known for its unusual 3D effects and shimmering, reflective beauty.

Looking over her life, Lisa has found that her meandering path has added to the sum of a brilliant creative.  Now a mother of 3 children, she finds joy in watching the sometimes slow (and often painful) course of life through a new set of eyes. 

Ever the daughter of an entrepreneur, Lisa believes in the power of artists who take themselves seriously as CEOs.  Outside of her art career and family, Lisa serves on the board for 2 non-profits, and mentors artists in business practice.  She loves airplane take off, clear streams, cheesecake, afternoon naps, NYC street music, and chatting with just about anyone. 

After a degree in psychology, experience as a parent and foster parent, working in a mental hospital and juvenile detention center, and much more, she believes all people are built by both beautiful and painful life experiences that can be crafted to serve, or to destroy.   Interactions in life that persuade powerful change are where she finds her greatest artistic inspiration.