Abia-Smith Bio
Lisa Abia-Smith is Chief Curator of Education at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and a Teaching Professor in the University of Oregon’s School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management. Since joining the university in 1997, she has connected museum practice, university teaching, and community partnerships to expand access to the arts and explore their contributions to learning, well-being, and belonging.
Abia-Smith teaches the first undergraduate course in social prescribing offered in the United States, examining how connections to arts, culture, and community resources can support health and well-being. Her teaching also explores art and human values, arts in healthcare, museum studies, arts management, and accessible arts education. Through gallery learning and community projects, she helps students connect ideas with professional practice and consider the role of cultural institutions in public life.
She is the founder of Art Heals, which brings together close looking, reflective writing, artmaking, and conversation in museum, healthcare, and community settings. Her work engages medical students, healthcare professionals, caregivers, university students, and community members. In collaboration with Elizabeth Lahti, MD, at Oregon Health & Science University, she develops and facilitates experiences that connect visual art with narrative medicine, reflection, and human connection.
Abia-Smith is coauthor, with Lahti, of Harnessing the Power of Museums: A Guide to Programs for Well-Being (Bloomsbury, American Alliance of Museums series, forthcoming 2027). The book offers practical approaches to designing, facilitating, and evaluating museum-based well-being programs, including the ARCC Framework: Attention, Reflection, Creation, and Connection.
She also founded Art of the Athlete, a program exploring creativity, identity, and the experiences of student-athletes. Across her teaching and museum work, she creates opportunities for participants to examine representation, recognize different perspectives, and express experiences through art.
Abia-Smith presents and facilitates workshops nationally and internationally for museum educators, teaching artists, healthcare professionals, and university audiences. Her current work includes facilitator training and collaborative partnerships that help institutions develop and sustain arts-based well-being programs.
Before joining the University of Oregon, she taught art and museum education at SUNY Buffalo State College and was the Curator of Education at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Her earlier professional experience includes positions at the Jewish Museum in San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Rose Resnick Lighthouse for the Blind.
She holds a master’s degree in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University and a bachelor’s degree in Art from Saint Mary’s College of California. She also studied painting and art history at the Leo Marchutz School of Drawing and Painting in Aix-en-Provence, France. A practicing painter, she brings her own creative practice into her teaching and facilitation.
