Lisa Swerling (born 1972) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and a

New York Times Bestselling ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

author. She is best known for her Glass Cathedrals dioramas. She is also known as co-creator of the illustrated characters

Happiness Is Happiness Is may refer to: Film and television * ''Happiness Is'' (film), a 2009 documentary Cartoons/Books * ''Happiness Is'' (cartoon), book series by Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar Music Albums * Happiness Is (Ray Conniff album) 1966, or the titl ...

Harold's Planet Harold's Planet is a popular online cartoon character created by Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar. Winner of the "Grand Prix - International Project Competition" at the Annecy Animation Festival in France in 1998, it grew to become a commercially s ...

, Vimrod and The Brainwaves.

Life

Lisa Swerling was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1972, the third of three children (born 30 seconds after her twin sister). She attended Herzlia High School in Cape Town and JFS in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She was awarded the Shell Prize in 1991 for the second highest A-level score in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

in the UK. She studied Philosophy and Politics at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

( New College) and Art at Central St. Martins (London), after which she worked, amongst other jobs, as a painting assistant to

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

. She ran her own graphic design business Swerlybird for two years before setting up the illustration licensing company Last Lemon with her husband,

Ralph Lazar Ralph Lazar (born 1967) is an artist, illustrator and a New York Times Bestselling author. Life Ralph Lazar was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967, and has degrees in law & economics from the University of Cape Town and The London Schoo ...

. She currently lives in

San Anselmo San Anselmo () is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. San Anselmo is located west of San Rafael, at an elevation of 46 feet (14 m). It is located about north of San Francisco. The town is bordered by San Rafael t ...

(

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

) with her family.

Glass Cathedrals

Glass Cathedrals, first introduced at an art exhibition at

Spitalfields Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...

in London's

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

in 2008, are glass-fronted boxes that feature scenes with hand-painted and customized miniature figures. They are showcased worldwide through art shows and galleries. Gallery representation includes MLIA at the

Affordable Art Fair The Affordable Art Fair is an international, contemporary art fair held in different cities around the world. First launched in Battersea Park, London, England, in 1999, the Affordable Art Fair is now an international event taking place in sever ...

London (Battersea, Hampstead) and Quantum Contemporary Art. Primary markets are the US, UK and Europe. The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

did a feature on Swerling's Art, showcased at the Unique LA Show in May 2011, describing it as "stealing the show".

Characters

Swerling is co-creator (partnering with her husband

) of the cartoon characters

, Vimrod and The Brainwaves.

and Vimrod sell as greetings cards in the millions, and have been published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

and

Andrews McMeel Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC (formerly Andrews, McMeel and Parker (1975–1986) and Andrews and McMeel (1986–1997)) is a company that publishes books, calendars, and related toys. It is a part of Andrews McMeel Universal (which comprises AM ...

. The Brainwaves are cartoon characters that populate

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...

's children's reference titles, published in over a dozen languages. Their artwork appeared weekly in ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...

'' and ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' from 2006 to 2009.

is published by

Chronicle Books Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children. The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and rights have been sold in 20 languages. With

, she co-authored the book Me Without You which was on the

New York Times Bestseller List ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

in March 2015. Awards and nominations include The

Royal Society Prizes for Science Books The Royal Society Science Books Prize is an annual £25,000 prize awarded by the Royal Society to celebrate outstanding popular science books from around the world. It is open to authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience, and ...

(2008),

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

Grand Prix winner 1998 (International Project Competition), The

(2007),

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

Book of the Week (April 2007) and The US

Parents' Choice Award The Parents' Choice Award was an award presented by the non-profit Parents' Choice Foundation to recognize "the very best products for children of different ages and backgrounds, and of varied skill and interest levels." It was considered a "prest ...

2006 and 2009.

Notes

External links

Company website

Glass Cathedrals

MLIA

Quantum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swerling, Lisa 1972 births Living people Artists from Cape Town South African expatriates in the United Kingdom British writers British sculptors British cartoonists Alumni of New College, Oxford People from San Anselmo, California Writers from Cape Town Alumni of Herzlia High School