Lacy Hale’s work is rooted deeply in place— the southeastern Kentucky mountains where she was born and raised. At the age of five she knew that she wanted to be an artist. At 18, she attended Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, NY. At 20, she returned to southeastern Kentucky to pursue her professional artistic career. Hale has exhibited widely throughout Kentucky and New York City.
Her work was included in a traveling Smithsonian exhibit in 2012. In 2018 Lacy received the Eastern Kentucky Artist Impact Award. She was a 2017 Special Grant recipient from Great Meadows Foundation, a 2018 nominee for the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painting Award, a 2016 Tanne Foundation Award recipient, a 2015 Nominee for the Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Award, and a 2015 and 2020 recipient of the Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Artist Enrichment Grant. She was awarded Appalachian Artist of the Year in 2021 and 2022. In 2024 she was awarded the eastern Kentucky Culture and Arts Leader of the Year. Her murals can be found all over the state of Kentucky and in Virginia. She is the creator of the No Hate in My Holler slogan and design.
Lacy is co-founder of EpiCentre Arts, a 2016 Rauschenberg Foundation Seed Grant recipient, based in Whitesburg, Kentucky. She served two years on the board of the Kentucky Arts Council. Her work has been mentioned in Time Magazine by Kentucky author Silas House. Grammy Award winning hip hop artist Ishmael Butler also owns one of her pieces.