MEET THE LEGACY LAB PARTICIPANTS

Paula Wilson is a multidisciplinary artist based in Carrizozo, New Mexico, whose vibrant, often monumental works blend painting, printmaking, collage, video, and installation into layered visual worlds. Wilson’s practice dissolves boundaries between art and life—encompassing  painted rugs, self-made clothing, the high-desert environment, and a creative life shared with her spouse, woodworker Mike Lagg. Her works bridge multiple realms: human and non-human, mythic and earthy, inviting viewers into spaces of hybridity and wonder. Wilson’s work has been exhibited at institutions including the California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA); the Tang Teaching Museum (Saratoga Springs, NY); 55 Walker (New York, NY); and Emerson Dorsch Gallery (Miami, FL). She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Anonymous Was A Woman Grant (2025); the Bemis Center’s Ree Kaneko Award (2024); the Ossorio Fellowship at Colby College (2022–23); the Hodder Fund Grant from Princeton University (2020); and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant (2009). Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, Artforum, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, and American Craft. Wilson is co-founder of MoMAZoZo and the Carrizozo Artist-in-Residence program, which has welcomed over 100 artists to this high-desert town.