Neon Queen: Artist Lisa Schulte Owns One of the Largest Collections in the World
09/12/2016
Explore the Work of More Visual Artists
The Triumphs and Hardships of Black America are Illustrated by Artist Nikkolas Smith
Native American Street Artist Honors the Strength of Legendary Indigenous Leaders
Autistic Students Gain the Skills to Work in Animation and Visual Effects at Exceptional Minds
1 of 21
next
An artist primarily recognized for working with light, Lisa Schulte was left without sight at the young age of seven following a freak accident. I was shot in the eye with a BB gun, she explains. The doctors were worried about the movement of her pupils after the incident, so they patched both of them shut and she lived in complete darkness for months. Like a superhero origin story, the tragic event of loss taught Schulte to see the world in a different way when the bandages were removed. Exercising patience and appreciation for how light interacts with surfaces and how it's understood as an experience became significant to her being. Decades later, Schulte is known as the Neon Queen, a go-to artist and designer for all things neon.
Schulte's passion for manipulating light began to really take shape as she entered her formative years. At 17, she started working in nightclubs operating light boards and by her twenties, she figured she was destined to work with light because it brought so much joy. From the early 1970s onward, Schulte was always involved with working in light. She even sold laser systems for eye surgery for a short time after college: The light and the eye has been a consistent theme in my life. Everything that I have done deals with light. It was not conscious early on but there was always something there with the light.
It was 1984 when Schulte started to play around with neon lighting, the medium she is most well-known for. During this time, Schulte was presented with an opportunity that provided a platform for growth. The Olympics were coming to Los Angeles and a production company was looking for someone to design a futuristic installation at the Pacific Design Center. I designed it out of neon and assumed I could get people to construct it for me but no one could do it, she says. This led Schulte to begin the process of solving her own design problems and hiring a staff for support. I had to figure it out. I was thrown into a larger-than-life production with no easy answers.
An interior view of Lisa Schultes studio. | Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSend EmailMoreCommentPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+
--
--
Together, Schulte and the team made it happen. I went to sign shops and figured out a way to get the desired result I needed to make three-dimensional and abstract shapes from neon, she says. The end result was a massive installation that involved several people and hundreds of thousands of dollars. I realized how powerful this medium was and that I was good at it. From paper drawings to the final concept, Schulte was able to keep all the materials after the exhibition. This helped establish her own company, Nights of Neon, which is still in operation today.
For years afterward, individual and corporations alike sought similar sized projects that involved all sorts of creative solutions and inventions from Schulte's studio. It was that wave of activity that allowed her studio to become one of the largest collections of neon in the world. While Schulte is an artist at heart, she did not feel confident enough to create her own personal work despite the wild success of her business. Maintaining professional projects consistently for close to 20 years, her desire to reinvent herself coincided with the economic downturn in 2008. There was lull in my business and it had a lot to do with the economy. Lots of films were leaving L.A. and it brought the city to a halt. I felt like I was going to lose my studio and it had run its course.
Lisa Schulte, Untitled Wood Series #6.
Schulte decided: If this is it, I need to create my own work and not be just a gun for hire. She was not content with her creative output through the business and dreamed of new ways of working with light. Her 25,000-square-foot studio looked like a mixture between museum storage and a working factory, so she had every possible machine she needed to make anything in neon. It was the perfect time to chart her own path: I was going to enjoy myself creating my own work and [that thinking] totally turned it all around.
What followed were group shows, then solo shows and finally a museum exhibition. Schulte has the unique ability to use a medium that is inherently cold and isolating and create something warm and inviting. Think diner and no vacancy signs embedded with an incredible sense of motion and feeling and you begin to understand the expression she is able to connote in these works. Her special knowledge and background as an artisan put her in rare company. Having refined her craft, she has become a specialist for all things neon, even to other artists who wish to work in the medium.
Lisa Schulte and Cleon Peterson, Warrior Army: Triangle, 2015.
If an artist out there wants to translate their work to neon, she is the one to call - call the Neon Queen is the recommendation. Sometimes acting as a collaborator and in other times as an advisor, Schulte reflects upon recent partnerships with artists like Cleon Peterson, RISK and Gregory Siff: Graffiti artists are my favorite because they really enjoy collaborating. There is an energy that feels natural and they respect one another's expertise. In the instance of Peterson, I bring a softness to his violent figures, she adds.
The Neon Queen label has also stuck, as Schulte has no control over it. A title of admiration and trust, it was given to me over the years and I
LINK: | https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/lisa-schulte-neon-queen-art-studio... |
See more stories from kcet |
North America Stories
18/04/2024
Dyn Media and NEP Germany pioneer new frontier in remote...
In August 2023, Dyn Media launched as a new broadcaster in European sports, aimed at giving sports beyond football the exposure and viewership they deserve. The...
18/04/2024
Hitomi partners with ES Broadcast Hire for US rentals
Hitomi Broadcast, market leader in audio/video alignment and latency tools based in the UK, has signed a partnership deal with global broadcast rental specialis...
18/04/2024
Vislink's DragonFly V - The Company's Smallest-Ever Transmitter Debuted at NAB 2024
Vislink's DragonFly V - The Company's Smallest-Ever Transmitter Debuted ...
18/04/2024
MediaSilo to Offer Camera to Cloud with Atomos
MediaSilo to Offer Camera to Cloud with Atomos Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments Integration between MediaSilo and Atomos Cloud Studio unlocking ...
18/04/2024
MultiDyne Updates its SilverBULLET Series to Serve More Fiber-Optic Links
MultiDyne Updates its SilverBULLET Series to Serve More Fiber-Optic Links Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions intro...
18/04/2024
Cinedeck Partners with Paramount to Revolutionize Content Delivery Process
Cinedeck Partners with Paramount to Revolutionize Content Delivery Process Brie Clayton April 17, 2024 0 Comments Cinedeck, a pioneer in integrated de...
18/04/2024
Unreal for video adding rocks and foliage
Unreal for video adding rocks and foliage Graham Quince April 17, 2024 0 Comments Welcome to my series on learning Unreal Engine for After Effects u...
18/04/2024
Best Budget Beginner-Friendly 4k Drone
Best Budget Beginner-Friendly 4k Drone Sean Alami April 17, 2024 0 Comments Potensic Atom 4k 3 axis Gimbal Drone, ideal drone for beginners. Some con...
18/04/2024
Race or Just Have Fun at Rocky Mount Mills for a Good Cause, Not Your Run of the Mill 5K
Rocky Mount Mills will be overflowing with runners, families and friends, all fo...
18/04/2024
Berklee's Yoon-Ji Lee Receives Guggenheim Fellowship
Berklee's Yoon-Ji Lee Receives Guggenheim Fellowship Lee, an assistant professor of composition, creates music based on unconventional and nonlinear struc...
18/04/2024
Ben Sherwood, Former ABC President, Named CEO at The Daily Beast
Ben Sherwood, former president of Disney ABC Television Group, has been named CEO and publisher at The Daily Beast. Joanna Coles, former chief content officer a...
17/04/2024
Sundance Institute Launches RFI and RFP Process to Explore Host Locations for the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and Beyond
Opening today, the exploration is aimed at selecting a location that will preser...
17/04/2024
Strengthening Australian Industry Capability Through Sovereign Sustainment Support
L3Harris Communications Australia Field Service support continues to grow with a...
17/04/2024
L3Harris Team Aligns 10 Mirrors for NASA's Roman Telescope
An optical technician lays on a diving board suspended between NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes primary and secondary mirrors. The photo is a projected ...
17/04/2024
Graham Media Selects Bitmovin Playback
DENVER Video streaming infrastructure providers Bitmovin has announced that the Graham Media Group has selected Bitmovin Playback to enhance its viewer experien...
17/04/2024
Survey: LGBTQIA+ TV Visibility Drives Viewership Among Young Americans
LGBTQIA+ representation in TV content boosts viewership among young (18-34) Americans, according to a new report from Horowitz Research....
17/04/2024
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Workflows
New NVIDIA RTX A400 and A1000 GPUs Enhance AI-Powered Design and Productivity Wo...
17/04/2024
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG and Broadcast Production
Frezzi Unveils SunLight 2: The Ultimate High-Output Lighting Companion for ENG a...
17/04/2024
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND videos
Peakto Search for Lightroom - Find at a glance among thousands of photos AND vid...
17/04/2024
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia
Simone Pilon Appointed Executive Director at Berklee Valencia Pilon, who has served as Berklee Valencia's interim executive director since March 2023, has a...
17/04/2024
CBS Cuts Off Billy Joel Concert Telecast (Updated)
CBS will re-air Sundays Billy Joel concert telecast this Friday (April 19) after several CBS-affiliated stations abruptly cut part of Sundays telecast of the si...
17/04/2024
Jacqueline Matter Named Co-Host on WTTG's Good Day DC'
Jacqueline Matter has been named co-host of Good Day DC at WTTG Washington. Effective immediately, she co-anchors the 4 a.m. newscast with Stephen Graddick, rep...
17/04/2024
TV Usage Takes March Dip While College Hoops Help Cable
Television usage took its usual March dip, dropping 3% from February, according to Nielsen,...
17/04/2024
BET, Tyler Perry Extend Content Agreement Through 2028
BET Media Group, part of Paramount Global, said it and Tyler Perry had reached an agreement extending their content production deal through 2028....
17/04/2024
Warner Bros. Discovery Names David Porter Head of Ad Research
Warner Bros. Discovery said it named David Porter head of ad sales research, data and insights....
17/04/2024
Lionsgate Signs Exec VP Lee Hollin To Long-Term Deal
Lionsgate said it signed a new multi-year employment deal with Lee Hollin, its executive VP, television and head of current programming for Lionsgate Television...
17/04/2024
Jessica Rosenworcel Speaks at the Paley Museum April 16
Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel sits for an interview at the Paley Museum in New York April 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Moderated by Nick T...
17/04/2024
Travis Kelce To Host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?' on Prime Video
Travis Kelce will host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spinoff of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, that will stream on Prime Video....
17/04/2024
Amy Alvarez Named News Director at Telemundo's KULX Salt Lake City
Amy Alvarez has been named news director at KULX Salt Lake City, the Telemundo station in the market. She comes from KVDA San Antonio, another Telemundo outlet,...
17/04/2024
Frndly Launches Channel Store, Adding 4 Subscription Services to Lineup
Frndly TV, the low-priced, family-friendly streaming service, said it launched a channel store where users can sign up for subscription streaming services....
17/04/2024
TV Tech Announces Winners of Best of Show Awards at 2024 NAB Show
TV Tech has announced its Best of Show Awards for the 2024 NAB Show, April 14-17 in Las Vegas. The awards are judged by a panel of industry experts on the crite...
17/04/2024
Riedel Enhances Interstellar Technologies Space Launch Wi...
Riedel Communications today announced its collaboration with Interstellar Technologies, a pioneering space transportation company based in Hokkaido, Japan, to o...
17/04/2024
Riedels Simplylive Production Suite Empowers Lafayette Co...
Riedel Communications announced that Lafayette College, a liberal arts college in eastern Pennsylvania and one of 10 core members in the Patriot League, is usin...
17/04/2024
Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic Upgrade Video...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Czech Republic, part of the Deutsche Telekom (DT) Group, have extende...
17/04/2024
OpenDrives Recognized on the 2024 CRN Storage 100 List
OpenDrives, Inc., the global provider of software-defined media workflow solutions and data management capabilities, is honored to announce its inclusion in the...
17/04/2024
Goldbach to Leverage Operatives new converged advertising...
Operative is pleased to announce a new and expanded partnership with Goldbach Media, one of the leading media sales organizations in Switzerland. This partnersh...
17/04/2024
Roberts Communications Network Selects Appear X Platform...
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, and Roberts Communications Network (Roberts), the leading worldwide video distribution and wagering dat...
17/04/2024
Mobilelinks Chooses Appear for UHD Upgrade of DSNG Trucks
Appear enables Mobilelinks to meet updated technical requirements. Appear, the global leader in live production technology, has been selected by Mobilelinks to...
17/04/2024
Appear and Skyline Communications Strengthen Partnership...
The expanded solution offers enhanced visibility and automation of production and distribution workflows for live event contribution applications Appear, the g...
17/04/2024
In a major step in its growth strategy Econocom launches...
Econocom, a sustainable digital enterprise and pioneer of the circular economy in Europe, today announced the launch of an ambitious campaign as part of the rol...
17/04/2024
Newsmax Extends Relationship with 24i to Rapidly Launch P...
24i, the video streaming platform expert, today announced that its 24i Video Cloud for OTT service providers is powering the new Newsmax+ subscription service, ...
17/04/2024
AIMS Welcomes Kakadu Software and 7thSense as New Members
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced its newest members: Kakadu Software provider of the world's leading JPEG 2000 development toolk...
17/04/2024
Amagi Integrates Intertrust ExpressPlay DRM for Deliverin...
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, and Intertrust, the leading digital rights management (DRM) provider, to...
17/04/2024
Amagi Announces Collaboration with Argoid AI to Drive AI-...
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV, today announced a collaboration with Argoid AI, a specialist in AI-power...
17/04/2024
Triveni Digital Awarded Patent for Secure Television Dist...
Triveni Digital today announced that the company has been awarded Patent Number US 11,924,260 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for pioneering Secure Tel...
17/04/2024
Chyron Partners With GALSNGEAR to Host Student Production...
Chyron today announced that it will partner with #GALSNGEAR , a movement to bring parity to women in media and entertainment, at the 2024 NAB Show to host the o...
17/04/2024
Biggest Events Deserve the Biggest Screens, IMAX Says
The Olympics is the world's biggest sporting event, so doesn't it deserve to be shown on the world's biggest screens? That was the subject of Going...
17/04/2024
Broadcasters Tout Milestones for NextGen TV
NAB Show provides an annual opportunity for broadcasters to gather in person and assess the progress the industry has made in its transition to ATSC 3.0. At thi...
17/04/2024
U.S. Digital Advertising Revenues Hits High of $225B
$225 billion: That's how high U.S. digital advertising revenues were in 2023, according to the newly released IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full...
17/04/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K Brie Clayton April 16, 2024 0 Comments Revolutionary large format digital film camera with RG...