In the Studio with Artist Liana Owad

Today, we are going In the Studio with artist Liana Owad. Her artwork will be on display at our upcoming 25th Anniversary Legacy show on display June 24 - August 30, 2026 in Hal Gomer Gallery.

*Artist with Safety Net at the Delaplain Arts Center in Frederick, MD, 2025.* Solo Show: *Shield and Reveal*

Liana Owad is an artist working with traditional and contemporary mediums to create sculptures and works on paper. Her work explores the domestic space and addresses the ideas of comfort and confinement in the home. She focuses on certain objects from or habits of routine daily life in her sculptures, prints, and drawings. She finds the physical manipulation of materials and learning new fabrication methods the driving force of her work.

Owad received her MFA in 2014 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and her BFA in 2010 from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Owad is a strong advocate for the maker movement and has helped launch two maker spaces, Nebraska Innovation Studio and the Michael Stanley Makerspace at the Chesapeake Arts Center. She has also been a studio technician and an instructor in sculpture, drawing, and on the proper tool and equipment use in higher education institutes and non-profit art centers. Owad is currently living and working in Maryland.

To find out more about Liana Owad and her work, visit her website and instagram @liana_owad.

Safety Net *Photo Credit: Hannah Price),* 2025. Zip Ties, OSB, Paint, Dimensions vary upon installation.

What has the process of developing your own artistic voice been like?

Developing my artistic voice has been an ever-evolving process informed by changing environments, material exploration, and a longstanding interest in the meaning of home. My educational experiences provided me with the time and space to experiment with concepts, materials, and fabrication methods while engaging in crucial conversations with visiting artists, my professors, and peers. Living throughout Maryland, in several different states, and abroad has also strongly influenced how I understand domestic space and its relationship to identity. Each move required me to adapt to new environments, studio resources, and communities, shaping both my perspective and my artwork. These experiences gradually led me to explore themes of protection and vulnerability and the ways people navigate their homes and personal spaces. While my work continues to evolve, these ongoing experiences have strengthened and refined my artistic voice over time.

Is there a common thread, theme, or motif you always find comes up in your work?

My work gravitates toward the domestic experiences, often the house structure and our relationship between how we determine public or private spaces. The visual exploration of this concept plays out in different forms, methods, and mediums, specific to each piece and the conversation I am cultivating around those forms. But at the heart, my work centers around the ideas of home, what that means to me in those moments of my life, and connections others can draw upon in a then shared experience.
How does a piece evolve from an idea to a finished work?

Often, a piece begins as an idea that circulates in my mind for a long time before I articulate it verbally or through drawings. From there, I develop rudimentary sketches and written notes that help me begin to translate an internal concept into a visual language. At the same time, I often work through multiple small-scale “sculpture sketches” or material tests while developing a larger installation or work. These studies help me determine which materials best support the concept and how they behave physically and conceptually. Once the direction is clarified, I move into precise measuring, planning, and fabrication, often responding directly to the constraints and opportunities of the exhibition space. Because my work is regularly site-specific or realized for a particular exhibition, I typically see the piece fully for the first time during installation in the gallery.

Denim, 2024. Hydrocal, 9.25H” x 4”W x 4”D

How do you feel your process is iterative? Do you find you’re often coming back to the same mediums/methods or are you always trying something new?

Yes, my process is definitely iterative! I often work in series that develop through repeating patterns and forms. I move back and forth between different materials and methods depending on what best supports the concept of each piece. My practice is not tied to a single medium or fabrication process, so I frequently return to familiar materials while also experimenting with new ones. This flexibility allows me to respond directly to the needs of each work rather than being constrained by a predetermined approach. I am drawn to the tactile nature of sculpture and the problem-solving that emerges through working with a range of materials.

How has your work/practice evolved since you first exhibited at CAC?

I participated in a group exhibition in 2016 at the Chesapeake Arts Center, “Her Stories: A Women’s Art Show,” shortly after returning to the East Coast following graduate school. At that time, my work was still strongly influenced by my experiences in the Midwest, with the voices of my graduate school experiences remaining present in my thinking and approach. I was very much making objects and thinking in objects. Over the past decade, I have moved five times and established a new studio in each location, with each iteration shaping my perspective and presenting both challenges and opportunities. These changes often required me to adapt my process, to explore different ways of thinking and building that could expand outward into the gallery space and immerse the audience in ways my solitary sculptures differ from. While my work has expanded in scale and approach over this time, the core themes of domestic space, material transformation, and perception have remained a consistent thread throughout my practice.

Please describe a meaningful experience you've had at Chesapeake Arts Center.

I have had so many meaningful experiences at the Chesapeake Arts Center that it is difficult to choose just one. In 2016, I was hired as the first Makerspace Coordinator to help design and establish what is now the Michael Stanley MakerSpace. I spent a year at the CAC working alongside incredible artists, educators, and staff to develop a program and creative space that I truly believe has made a lasting impact on our community.

It has been rewarding to return and see the MakerSpace thriving while also experiencing the organization from new perspectives. The Gallery offered me a solo exhibition at a pivotal moment in my career in 2022, shortly after the birth of my daughter. This opportunity truly pushed me to continue making work and to think of myself as an artist during a significant life transition.

The CAC has continued to support my growth as an artist, and most recently it became the setting for my daughter’s first Ballet Buddy dance recital. Experiencing the CAC as an employee, artist, and parent has made its impact on my life especially meaningful and coming back throughout the past decade has been so rewarding. I cannot wait to see what the next chapter holds.