Lisa Ackerman (formerly Jordan) has been an artist from an early age. Growing up in a blue collar family in rural Illinois, she lived for school Field Trips to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art where she experienced art that lit her soul on fire. Though money was tight, she always had access to crayons, paper, and later the tools, nails, and wood in the barn. In absence of those, her hands would make mud and twigs her art supplies. Creativity was her constant companion. 

Now in her 50s, Ackerman finds art to be her respite, her voice, the thing that creates purpose in her life. She finds inspiration in nature and her work reflects the many colors and textures found there, whether she is painting, felting, photographing, or more recently, creating paper collage from monoprinted papers.

She reached a supportive base of arts appreciators worldwide by marketing her work online through her blog Lil Fish Studios, and by identifying individuals and groups supportive of the arts in her area. She has been the Executive and Artistic Director of The Crossing Arts Alliance in Brainerd MN since 2014 and has had the pleasure of connecting with hundreds of artists through that administrative role. She received an Artist Grant through the Five Wings Arts Council in 2016 to create large scale felting pieces. She held her first solo show, which sold out in its run, in July 2018 in the Crossing Arts Gallery. In 2019 she was named Outstanding Arts Leader for Crow Wing County, and was also awarded a grant through Sprout to build an Art Cart that allowed her to share her agriculturally-tied art form alongside Sprout’s mobile markets. She teaches well-received workshops frequently for Crossing Arts and for other arts orgs and groups in the state, participates in public art-making, and encourages collaborative work in her community. 

Her work has appeared in magazines such as Fiber Art Now, Brides Magazine, Rug Hooking Magazine, and Handspun; in a number of craft books by Lark Books which showcased her sewn felt projects; and in venues such as the gift shop at The Walker Art Center, The Sheldon Museum of Art's shop, and in Art-o-mat machines across the country.