Lisa Girolami, March 2026 Featured Artist of the Month
Who knew that finger painting in kindergarten would turn into a career! I’m originally from Long Beach, California and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine art from California State University, Long Beach in 1984.
I chose CSULB because it has the largest and most diverse art department west of the Mississippi. My college art program was challenging and demanding, but I always found a way to have fun while focusing on painting and drawing. It was important to seek out art professors that would encourage me to experiment with various mediums and push the boundaries.
After graduation, I had an opportunity to work in motion pictures and television and made my way up the ranks from script supervisor to director and producer. While making movies at Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures, another branch of the company, Walt Disney Imagineering (which designs and builds the theme parks around the world) asked me to help produce the films that play in their theme parks. Working with those talented, creative, and crazy Imagineers made me fall in love with how they could take stories and create a three-dimensional world around them. When they asked me if I would help create their own film production studio, I left motion pictures and became an Imagineer. Eventually, they found out that I had a degree in art, so they asked me to start designing show and rides. That led to my becoming a producer in charge of the entire creative process.
In all, I then spent 42 years working in the entertainment industry, with my last position as Director and Executive Producer for Walt Disney Imagineering.
I was very fortunate to be able to make movies and create theme parks while spending my weekends in my woodworking studio. Over many years, I created folk art, vintage signs, jewelry, bowls, furniture, river tables, and architectural salvage art. Read more