“The prospect of travel into (but definitely not out of) black holes may be uncommon subject matter for artist commissions, but it makes sense in the world of Janna Levin. The author of a new book that counts as her second focused on black holes, Levin is also a professor of physics and astronomy at Columbia University as well as the founding director of the science studios at Pioneer Works, an interdisciplinary arts space in Brooklyn. It was there that she first worked closely with Lia Halloran, an artist whose painterly visions add levity and weight to a beguiling little volume titled Black Hole Survival Guide.”

As a C.O.L.A. Fellow, Halloran will be awarded a $10,000 grant to produce a new body of work that will be premiered by the City of Los Angeles in Spring 2021. The 2020/21 C.O.L.A. Master Artist Fellows in literary, performing, and visual arts are: Neel Agrawal, Noel Alumit, Edgar Arceneaux, Maura Brewer, Nao Bustamante, Jedediah, Caesar, Neha Choksi, Michael Datcher, Sarah Elgart, Lia Halloran, Phung Huynh, Farrah Karapetian, Ruben Ochoa, and Umar Rashid.

Black Hole Survival Guide, written by astrophysicist Janna Levin and illustrated by Lia Halloran (Associate Professor of Art in Wilkinson College), is a playful exploration into the structure and nature of black holes for everyone interested in learning a little more about the strange and powerful objects in our universe.

Check out the blog post in Chapman University’s The Voice of Wilkinson.

The Boston Globe’s Joseph Peschel reviews Janna Levin’s Black Hole Survival Guide, which features artwork by Lia Halloran.

Read Nina Young’s article in UCLA’s Daily Bruin about Lia Halloran’s work, Double Horizon, and her exhibition at ArtCenter College of Design’s Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery.

Reviewed in Flaunt Magazine, Britta Cameron discusses Halloran’s immersive installation Double Horizon on view at ArtCenter’s Mullin Gallery.