lisa congdon biography

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An Interview With One of My Favs, Lisa Congdon

Lisa Congdon and I met a few years ago at a small creative conference here in Portland, OR. Lisa is an artist, illustrator, and author, and I’ve been a fan of her art and positive messages for a while. Upon meeting we realized we had some dear mutual friends one of whom, Christopher Dibble , has taken several gorgeous photos for The Mom Edit, too.

Since then, Lisa and my gregarious, sassy 7-year-old daughter have become pals. Sienna and I love visiting her shop here in Portland to say hey and buy awesome gifts. Lisa sells a wide array of fantastic art, creative supplies, kits and gifts featuring her bright, positive work and messages. If you aren’t local to Portland, check them out on her website, lisacongdon.com

If you follow Lisa on Instagram , you know that not only is her art bright, inspiring, positive and fun, but her style is just that, too. She seemed like the perfect candidate for a style and life interview. It was also fortuitous timing because her latest book, You Will Leave A Trail of Stars: Words of Inspiration for Blazing Your Own Path , dropped this week!

Lisa Congdon On Her Work, Art, Style & Family

1. please give our readers a little run-down of what you do, your hobbies, your fam, etc., .

My name is Lisa Congdon . I am an artist and writer. I spend most of my time illustrating everything from books to fabric to packaging to apparel and more! I also teach Creative Entrepreneurship in the Master’s program at Pacific Northwest College of Art. I split my time between Portland, Oregon and Manzanita, Oregon (on the coast) with my wife Clay and our two dogs, Wilfredo and Milkshake. My hobbies include distance road cycling and gravel cycling, perusing flea markets and antique malls for vintage treasures, and reading books. ( Side note: You must check out her adorable dogs on her IG )

2. Describe your personal style in three words. Who are your style icons?

My personal style in three words: funky edgy prep

Style icons: Linda Rodin, Brigitta Reuter, Jenna Lyons

3. How does your art influence your personal style?

It’s funny, people say I dress like my art! I have favorite colors for sure, and two ways that those colors emerge in my life are through my art and my personal style. I wear a lot of the same colors I use in my work, and similarly blend earth tones like ochre and rich browns with pinks and reds. Color play is my favorite! I also love big, bold, simple, graphic patterns and motifs – and you’ll see that both in my dress and my work. I think there is a sensibility about my dress that is classically preppy (I came of age in the ’80s when the Preppy Handbook came out) but I love pushing the boundaries of that look with accessories, glasses, and my everyday art, my many tattoos! My work is similar –- very restrained and organized on one level, and also very playful. 

4. What’s your go-to outfit?

Lately it’s bootcut jeans and a light sweater with wingtip oxfords.

5. What does your daily (or weekly) (dream?) schedule look like?

Well, my dream schedule would be getting up at 7, going for a long bike ride (where it’s always sunny), getting dressed (the best part of the day!), and working for a good 7-hour stretch with some breaks to walk the dogs (especially when I’m at the coast, where I live ½ a block from the beach!). In reality, however, I get up at 5:45, ride my bike 4-5 days a week, work 8-9 hour days and break for dinner around 6. I have a full and wonderful career, but it does mean I work a lot!

6. Who are some of your favorite designers/brands/artists in the fashion world?

Marimekko, Clare V, Alex Mill, Muji, Madewell and J.Crew for denim. I also buy a lot of vintage, and vintage shopping is one of my favorite activities! I’m also in workout or cycling clothes literally about 40% of my life, and my go-tos for that are Athleta and adidas for gym and athleisure wear, and Velocio and Rapha for cycling.

7. Is your closet as organized as your work process and please share your tips?

My work process is not as organized as you might think! But I am told “for an artist” I’m pretty organized. Just this past summer I got a new custom closet installed in my bedroom. And since that was installed, I’d say my closet is pretty organized for the first time ever! When I had it built I thought a lot about how I’d ideally organize my clothes, and then designed around that. So shelves and hanging spaces have very specific purposes for the kinds of clothes I wear. I also switch winter and summer clothes out so they don’t take up space in my closet when I am not wearing them. Lastly, I think it’s important to let go of clothes you don’t wear or haven’t worn in the past year or more. Make space for the stuff you DO wear. It makes decision making much easier in the morning!

8. As someone who is often in front of audiences, how do you choose what you’ll wear?

I like to present myself as playful and fun but also put together. Honestly, I think that’s what kind of person I am. I am not afraid of color, but I also love wearing all black. Accessories are often my statement when my outfit is simpler. I am not afraid of mixing colors and patterns, but I do also appreciate matching colors in an outfit. I feel like how I dress is part of my creative expression, and I love clothes! 

9. What do you do that lifts up others?/How can we, as women, lift each other up?

I try to share my own experience as a woman and as an artist. Not just the good, happy stuff, but the hard stuff too: the pain, the insecurities, the fear. It’s important to me that others know they are not alone in whatever they are going through. We all struggle. Part of lifting each other up requires putting our egos aside, sharing our humanity, and being there for each other. Striving for “perfection” is damaging and futile. It’s in our humanity that we connect and support each other.

Thank you so so much to Lisa for taking time to share her style tips and life with us. You can follow her on Instagram @lisacongdon and find all of her amazing art and wares at her site LisaCongdon.com And be sure not to miss her newest book mentioned above, You Will Leave A Trail of Stars: Words of Inspiration for Blazing Your Own Path . And if you need some new art for your space? This tiger is my current favorite …and you can find it on some rad Method hand soap bottles at Target right now, too! So cool.

Hey hey…would love you to follow all my daily style musings, donut pics and dance parties overon Instagram  @laurajansenstyle . I try to keep it real over there, with a side of fun and a good dose of social justice … coming at you live, from sunny Portland, Oregon.  😉

Photos by our talented friend Christopher Dibble

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Lisa Congdon On Creativity, Activism, and Finding Your Flow

Lisa Congdon on Creativity, Activism, and Finding Your Flow

If you're a fan of bright colors, folk art, social justice and heartstring-pulling work, you've definitely seen the art of Lisa Congdon . Lisa's ability to capture complicated feelings and emotions in her work is truly magical. She manages to infuse a breath of fresh air into meaningful stories and heavy topics, and puts just as much care and love into the light and airy pieces she's been creating for over 20 years.

Anjelika Temple here , co-founder of Brit + Co. I first became familiar with Lisa Congdon's work over 10 years ago, when I worked at 20x200 and was in touch with her about an upcoming print edition we were in the midst of producing. Since then, I've been a total fangirl and am deeply honored to be able to share a slice of her creative journey with all of you in this edition of Creative Crushin' .

From her first art show via a Flickr connection to her most recent project, a playful children's picture book called " Round ", Lisa is as prolific as she is authentic, genuine and so giving of herself and what she's learned to everyone that's game to learn. Read on and take in the creative inspiration.

Anj: Let's kick things off by getting to know you! What's the quick version of your life story?

Lisa: I was born in upstate New York in a little city called Schenectady, which is outside of the capital, Albany, and that was in 1968. My dad is a scientist. He's retired now. Both my parents are in their 80s now, and my mom is an artist, but she was kind of similar to me, very much a hobby artist, and now takes commissions and does things on a more professional level, even still in her 80s.

I take after her in so many ways. She's a risk taker. She does stuff even though she doesn't know what she's doing. She'll try anything. She doesn't have that kind of perfectionist fear gene that so many people have, and I inherited that from her. That's not to say I don't have fear, it's just that part of why I've made this professional career out of my creativity is that I'm willing to try things even though I don't know what I'm doing.

So in my 20s, when I discovered creativity as a hobby, similar to what my mom was doing, it was kind of a surprise to everyone. I think people expected me to maybe do great things in the world, but not necessarily as an artist. In fact, I thought I was a terrible artist. Then, when I was in my early 30s, so 20 years ago, I went through a big breakup with somebody I had been with for almost a decade, and I changed jobs. I went from working as an elementary school teacher to working in an office.

I think what happened was that I really felt this kind of dearth of creativity in my life. Teaching little kids forces you to make things interesting for them, so you have to be really creative. I went to work at an office job and I found myself kind of depressed. I was lonely because I was single for the first time in my adult life, and I just kind of set up this little art station at my kitchen table. I wouldn't have even called it a studio. I just started experimenting, and I started taking classes at community colleges. At the LGTBQ center, I took this drawing class, and I just kind of fell in love with the process of making.

This was in the early 2000s, so this was at the birth of the Internet... not the birth of the Internet at large, but the birth of the Internet as a space for creative people. Flickr was becoming a thing, blogging was becoming a thing, and there were not yet online classes, Brit + Co, or learning platforms, no social media, but there was this DIY movement happening on the Internet. I started a blog and I started sharing pictures of the crappy stuff I was making. Let's be clear, my work did not look the way it looks now. I was very much a beginner, but I loved it, and I just kept working at it. Then, at some point later on, I realized I could make a living at it if I kind of pivoted in all of the right directions, which included both getting better, developing my skills, but also working on the business side of it, too. So, that's the short long version.

Anj: Tell me more about what it was like when you realized "Hey, maybe this can be my career?" Was there a specific spark or turning point when you thought, "All right, let's see?"

Lisa: One of the moments was in 2006 when I had my first show, and that came about because I think I had posted some images of some stuff on Flickr, which some of you are probably too young to remember. It was this photo-sharing site, which I like to call the original social media, because you could follow people and post your work and like and comment and all the things that are now so normal in our lives. I started meeting people on Flickr, and this woman who owned a store in Seattle asked me if I wanted to have a show. My mind was blown. She asked me if I wanted to have a show because she was seeing the stuff I was making, and I remember sitting at my desk the day that she ... and I was like "Oh my God, this is real." Butterflies and everything. "I'm an artist. Wow, this is so cool!" Then, I started getting inquiries from the hair salon where I went to get my hair done in San Francisco, and there was another little shop in San Francisco called the Candy Store where I had a show, and this was all 2006-2007. So, that started happening. I got an inquiry from Poketo, a brand-new (at the time) Los Angeles-based brand, and I released a bunch of products with them really early on.

So, it was kind of like "Okay, let's see." At the time, this whole idea of being an illustrator was something I couldn't really wrap my head around, but I thought, "All right, maybe if I can figure out the illustration part and do these other things, and then kind of cobble together some kind of income ... " At the time, social media was kind of starting. There was no Instagram yet, but there was Facebook. I made a fan page. I got on Twitter. I had this blog and I just started directing traffic to my blog. I started an Etsy shop in 2007, and I started to make a little bit of money, and in 2008, I was so lucky. I signed with an agent, and slowly, things started to happen. Now, what that didn't equal at the time was money. I was still working part-time at my job and, even after I left my job, I was freelancing for my old education non-profit where I worked because it was so hard in the beginning, but I was determined.

In hindsight, I realized it happened really quickly, but it felt like it took forever, especially to get to the point where I was making enough money to pay my mortgage, buy food, get myself out of debt, and that kind of thing.

Anj: Bringing it back to your creative process, talk to me more about what the creative flow feels like for you, and what you love about making things.

Lisa: We were talking earlier about the excitement I felt when somebody wanted to give me their space to take over to hang art. For me, it's this combination of the enjoyment of making something that, to me, looks cool or is beautiful, interesting, or says something, but it's also about how other people react to it. There's my creative process, which is super satisfying to me because it's problem solving, it's kind of seeing your ideas come to life, and that is all super satisfying.

That's why I think being an artist in this time in history is such a blessing for me because I get to share my work with other people, and then that is super exciting to me, too. I'm really interested in seeing other people's reactions to my work, whether it's through my books or through social media, and that, to me, is just as motivating as the feelings I have when I'm creating something. I got my first taste of that back in the day when I had my first show. There's something about interacting with my audience that I love.

I think people imagine that people like me who do a lot of work and are identified as being prolific, that we sit around all day in this state of flow, and that we're drawing and painting, listening to NPR and classical music, drinking tea, and it's all so easy. I mean, there are definitely days that are like that. There are definitely days where I'm just like "God, I'm the luckiest person on the Earth. I get to do this for a living and I love it," everything's flowing out of me perfectly, and I'm so satisfied with everything I'm doing, but that's maybe 20% of the time, which isn't bad. The rest of the time, it's frustration, deadlines, not being in the mood to draw something but I have to for this job that I accepted two weeks ago, or not having any good ideas. Especially in the beginning, I wasn't as skilled as I am now, so just rendering things that I was supposed to make took longer, and so it was exhausting. So, I do definitely have that flow state sometimes, where I'm just really into it, but most of the time, it's hard.

Anj: Your work is so playful, colorful, a clear folk art influence, and has such a recognizable color palette and aesthetic. How did you hone in on it?

Lisa: You know, I've always been influenced by two of the things that you mentioned, which is folk art and also color. It seems weird to say you're influenced by color, but I really am. I'm drawn to other people's art based on color or lack of, you know what I mean? Or the palette. It's a thing that a lot of artists don't get. They're really good at rendering things, but they don't necessarily have a sense of color. Another thing that has always been a huge influence to me is mid-century art and design. Alexander Girard is my absolute all-time favorite artist. Interestingly, he was also influenced by folk art and was a founder of the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe. So, he's always the example I give of stylistically. He also was a collector of a lot of things and that's a huge part of my story. I draw a lot of my collections or imaginary collections. I love drawing arrangements of things, so order is also very important to me. I'm always drawing on the imaginary grid.

All of that has sort of been part of my story all along, even when my skillset wasn't as developed as it is now, but I would also say that, and I talk about this a lot: I wrote this book called " Find Your Artistic Voice ", and one of the things that people ask me the most is how does one find their style? How does one arrive at a place where things are sort of locked and things are recognizable? For me, I always say I could paraphrase the book in one sentence, which is show up and just work at it: draw every day, make ceramics every day, or whatever your thing is, do it every day. You can't do something every day, practice it, refine it, et cetera, without it developing into something that's truly, an extension of your DNA.

A lot of what a person's style is, is already in there from influences or the stuff that we find beautiful. Our brains are constantly filtering visual stimuli, especially in this day and age. You can't walk down the street without seeing a cool billboard or a mural, or walk into Target and see cool things on t-shirts. We're bombarded, not to mention what's on our phones and what we're scrolling through. Your brain, even if you're not conscious of it, is constantly saying yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. You could walk by a million murals, billboards or whatever, walk into a stationery store, and walk by a million cards, but then you stop at one because it speaks to you. You're like "This is the most beautiful card," or "This is the most beautiful mural." There's a reason: because it's something about your taste that resonates.

So, we're always collecting this and that, and "Oh, who made that? Okay, I'm going to look her up when I get home. Oh, wow, she has a website. Oh, look at her influences. Oh, I'm going to go down that rabbit hole and see who she's influenced by." So, that's where we collect influences, and then, hopefully, we're collecting lots of them so that eventually, our work might look very similar to somebody who we're influenced by, but eventually, we kind of develop our own style, and that's just kind of a normal part of the trajectory.

For me, it was like that. It was just collecting influences, immersing myself in the world of art and design. I like this. I want my work to be more like this. I love the look and feel of this. It's sort of a mishmash of all of those things. Also, just getting better at drawing and executing, and my skills improved. I feel like, in the last five or six years, I kind of arrived in this place where yeah, I have this identifiable style, and it's crazy because people are like "It only happened five or six years ago? You've been making art for 20 years," and I'm like "Yeah, it takes a really long time." I finally don't feel like I'm still searching. That doesn't mean that my work still won't evolve. It doesn't mean that, eventually, I won't land on some new inspiration that makes my work pivot in a different way, but that's what finding your voice feels like, or actually finding that flow.

It's like you arrive at this place where you actually like your work as much as other people do. I started getting my work tattooed on my body and it took me forever to get there because I realized I didn't really like my work very much before, and then I finally was like "Okay, I like it enough to tattoo it on my own body. That's a big deal."

Anj: So, just riffing off of that, I think that a lot of people, myself included, when they're embarking on a new body of work or trying to find their voice, feel intimidated by all the artists/humans out there doing similar things. How do you give advice or even deal with this yourself? That self-doubt and that "I don't know that I have something to visually say?"

Lisa: That's a totally normal feeling. I feel like I kind of, in the last few years, got over a hump, and it was around the time that I felt very kind of solid in my own work. It is so natural to compare yourself to other people. I mean, how can we not? Not just the quality of our work or the ideas behind our work, like "That's such a great idea, why didn't I think of that," kind of thing, but also, on social media, it's like "Oh, so many people like her work. I feel like my work is just as good. Why don't as many people like it? We have the same amount of Instagram followers." There's this whole mind game we play with ourselves.

I realized about three or four years ago that I was spending an inordinate amount of energy having those thoughts, and I think a lot of people would've imagined that someone as far along in my career wouldn't have had them anymore. I would admit to people that I also had anxiety around social media, and people were surprised. They're like "Oh, you seem so confident, so many people love what you do, you have so much engagement," and blah, blah, blah. Yet, I was really struggling, not to the point of it being debilitating, but I would post something that I wanted people to be excited about and maybe they weren't as excited as I wanted them to be, and then I would put too much weight on that instead of my own feelings about whatever it is I was posting. It would bum me out, you know what I mean? I think most people can relate to that.

So, one summer, I started working with a coach, and one of the main things I worked with him on was letting go of these expectations around social media and only posting when I felt like I really had something to say, and posting regardless of whether or not I thought the thing was going to be Instagram-friendly or not. Really being authentic and really honoring my own creative process and my own voice versus whether or not other people liked it, it got engagement, or it sold in my shop, if it was something I was selling. I set my mind to it. It was extremely intentional on my part. I did a lot of work with him, talking through what that was like and how I could shift my perspective.

I also had to get over this impostor syndrome situation, which was "I suck, I'm just lucky to be here," and really, that was related to the social media anxiety. I really turned a corner that year. I wrote about it, I meditated on it, and every time I posted, I promised myself that I was going to honor my own experience and not worry about what other people thought. It took a lot of effort, but I can honestly say I've worked through it. There are moments every now and again where I feel disappointed, there are moments when I still have a slight bit of impostor syndrome, there are moments when I still compare myself to other people. I'm human, but do I dwell on it? Does it control my life? No.

Anj: On the note of putting it all out there, talk to me more about how activism comes into play with your work.

[Editor's Note: This interview and conversation took place before the November 2020 election.]

Lisa: I've integrated so much activism into my postings and to my Instagram in particular, and into my work, I had to really let go of what other people thought because the minute you start doing that, you're going to lose followers, people are going to not agree with you, and I constantly had to say "I'm here to be me. I'm not here to make you comfortable, I'm not here to please you. I'm here to be me." That also really helped me. I've always kind of been open about where I'm coming from ... I say kind of because I've definitely done more lately, but even before the 2016 election, I've been openly gay since I was in my early 20s, I've never hidden it from anywhere, at any job, at any platform. In fact, I talk about it like it's no big deal because I think that's kind of better than anything: just people casually seeing me with my wife and things like that. That's always sort of been part of my life.

My best friend is black. The reason I bring that up is it's an important part of how I sort of show up in the world: that I am in constant interaction every single day with somebody whose experience is vastly different than mine. We are so similar in so many ways, we are both artists, but our experience walking through the world is totally different. That has been personally the most important experience of my life: to attempt to see the world through this person that I love so much. The pain that she experiences, the confusion she experiences, and the anger she experiences, and sort of waking myself up to that. That, in addition to my own sort of being part of a marginalized group myself has made it almost impossible for me not to talk about social justice in my work because it's such an important part of my everyday experience, including my need to do work on myself.

After the 2016 election, I was so angry about the rights of people being taken away and the massive shift in policies in the US government, and I started writing about it. I was like "I don't care what anybody says, this is too important." I feel like it seems like everybody does that now, but I was one of very few artists in the beginning who was willing to just really put her neck out there. So, I started talking about stuff. I started writing about it. Then, it just kind of became something I was known for, and I started getting asked to design things for non-profit organizations and for different marches and initiatives. I started raising money through that work and drawing attention to different causes. I started really loving that work, and it became a really important part of my voice and my identity. Then, in the last year, things have been so wack that it's just times 10 now. Now, I can't imagine ever going back.

It's so important to me personally, and it's so important for the world, that I feel like I have a responsibility. People often say ... "We're not interested in your politics, we just want your pretty pictures," basically. I had to write a couple very intense posts about why I was making this work and that a lot of people argue that all art is political... what you choose not to represent is a political statement in and of itself, so that I was making overtly political work was one thing, but really, all art is political, and that was something that I didn't necessarily even realize until the last five years.

I get a lot of satisfaction and joy from it. I mean, the stuff we're dealing with isn't joyful, but making work to shift people's attitudes or give people something to be hopeful about feels important to me.

Anj: Now shifting gears to your new children's book! Authored by Jennifer Ward and illustrated by you, tell us what inspired it and what the experience was like. Talk to us more about " Round ."

Lisa: I think it was the most fun illustration project I've ever worked on and one of the reasons it was fun is because I wasn't attached to the words. I loved the text in the book but the great thing about picture books is that the text is usually really simple.

In this book in particular, there's a narrative, but it's pretty loose. It's not like there are characters. I mean, some characters emerge a little bit in the book in the form of some of the animals reappearing, but it was a really easy place to start because I could really be me, and also honor the text in the book.

Round... I like to call it a lyrical poem all about round things that we find out in the world. Some are literally round and some are more ... well, not figuratively round, but less perfectly round. It's all in nature, and that's one of the things I love to draw are animals and plants. They wanted me to be me. In fact, the cover is like this kind of big explosion of round things arranged really close together. It's like something I would draw for fun, and it actually was inspired by some drawings I had made of things kind of drawn really close together and in an arrangement. And I love the cover so much. Covers are usually the thing I hate most about a book, which sucks because it's the thing that people see on the shelf, and it causes them to open it or not, so I'm hoping it has a good shelf life because the cover is so colorful.

Anj: When you're feeling burnt out, or you're starting a project, what are ways that you reset? What are things that work for you, things that you could recommend to others?

Lisa: When I can, the very first thing I do is take a break. That's not always possible, as you know from somebody who runs a business. Sometimes, you just have to show up and do the work, even when you don't feel like it, and there's a certain amount of grit involved. So, sometimes, I just plow through, force myself to do it, and then I feel better when it's done. If I'm not working on any client projects or client projects that have immediate deadlines, I give myself this passcard. "You don't have to post anything on social media, you don't need to make any new work right now. If you don't feel like it, don't do anything, just go read a book, go take a hike, go shopping," which is, of course, harder now except doing it online because of the pandemic, but go do something else and give yourself permission to not be productive and to kind of give yourself a rest.

Then, during that rest time, what I'll often do is kind of dive into inspiration. I go down a Pinterest rabbit hole or I go to Powell's Books in Portland and plant myself in some aisle that has books about something I'm interested in. Not necessarily art books, maybe history books, picture books, or whatever, and that will sometimes help me kind of get excited about a new direction. Sometimes, I just go to my studio and mess around with clay. I have a kiln. It's not something I'm known for, but I do kind of make and sell ceramics a little bit. It's kind of my fun getting my hands dirty experimental low-pressure nothing hardly ever gets put on Instagram, it's just kind of this fun thing that I do.

I also love to sew. Quilting is one of those things that's so straightforward to me. Aspects of the process take some creativity, but once it's pieced, I can just sit there and stitch and watch Netflix. So, I think taking breaks, allowing yourself to go down rabbit holes of new inspiration that's going to wake you up and light you up a little bit. In the old days, before the pandemic, I would go to museums even, or go shopping in my favorite stores.

Then, the combination of a break, collecting inspiration, maybe getting my hands dirty with some work that's a little bit more tactile and a little less cerebral, eventually, I kind of am able to work through blocks, but they happen to everyone, especially when they're burned out. Even when you're not burned out on art, maybe you're burned out on your kids, the business part, your relationship, or some issue you're having with a family member.

Making art in times of stress is like trying to run in humidity. You can do it, but it feels so exhausting and uncomfortable. We've all been, in the last year, in this really weird time of stress, and I think some people are surprised that they're depressed and anxious, and they can't make art. It's completely normal. Creativity requires a certain amount of relaxation and letting go, and that's really hard when there are so many things in the world that are so hard to wrap your head around.

See more of Lisa Congdon's artwork on Instagram @lisacongdon and shop her books, prints and more at lisacongdon.com .

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Lisa Congdon on being self-taught, dream clients and finding success online

Lisa Congdon is an artist of many talents. From fine art to illustration, authoring books to teaching classes both online and offline, she is a creative force to be reckoned with.

Best known for her colourful paintings and hand lettering, Lisa's clients include MoMA, REI, Harvard University, Martha Stewart Living, Chronicle Books and Random House Publishing, among many others.

She is the author of seven books, including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist , and illustrated books The Joy of Swimming, Fortune Favors the Brave, Whatever You Are, Be a Good One, Twenty Ways to Draw a Tulip and A Collection a Day.

Her latest book, A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives, was released by Chronicle Books in October 2017. Lisa was also named one of 40 Women Over 40 to Watch in 2015 and she is featured in the 2017 book, 200 Women Who Will Change the Way you See the World.

Currently living and working in Portland, Oregon, we caught up with Lisa on her experiences of the creative industries and her tips for budding artists.

Firstly, how did you get started?

My start was very non-traditional. I was just a regular, non-artist person (at the time in my early thirties) and I took a couple of art classes for fun. That was about 18 years ago. I had zero intention then of becoming a professional artist – or even of being an artist at all.

I was basically just bored at my job, and going through some big changes in my life after a breakup with my partner, and needed something positive to focus on. So I started taking classes making art at my kitchen table.

I had no idea what I was doing most of the time and what I made was pretty bad, but I loved making stuff in a way I had never loved doing anything in my life. So I kept making art. I painted, drew, made collage. And then, the Internet happened.

It was becoming a space for creative people to connect at the time. And I started sharing my work on places like Flickr (this was before social media as we know it today). And I started a blog.

Through that sharing two things happened: first, I became part of a community of people who were artists online; and second, I began to get enquiries about my work, and I began slowly to sell it. And, eventually, a few years later, I decided to make a go of selling my work more seriously, first on the side, and then, within a few years, full time.

Was starting your own business difficult in the beginning?

Oh my gosh, yes! It was so hard. I was broke. I had no connections, I didn’t know what I was doing about 87% of the time, from making art to promoting my work. But I was very steadfast. I am a Capricorn, and sometimes when we get an idea and a goal, there is no stopping us.

What challenges did you face? And how did you overcome them?

Well, first of all, the way to make a living as an artist is to become known. Even in the beginning, especially because no one knew who I was, I understood on some level that I had to put myself and my work into the world.

This was hard because I also understood that my work wasn’t really as developed or good as I wanted it to be – or that I knew it would be eventually. But I put it out there anyway. My mantra has always been, “Begin anyhow,” and that’s because there is always a reason we can think of why we can’t do something, or why we’ll fail.

There is never a perfect time to do anything. So it’s important to just begin, even when you aren’t quite ready. And I did. I began making and posting work in all the places. In the beginning that was my blog and Flickr. And then it was Twitter and Facebook. And then Instagram. Over time, I posted pretty much everyday. I connected with other artists and bloggers. And, eventually I connected with leaders in the illustration industry and people who would hire me. I built a following for my work, and I became known. Then I was able to make a living at it.

I also understood that I couldn’t rely on just one thing to make a living. So I worked hard at lots of things: illustration, licensing my work, keeping an online shop, showing my work in galleries; and eventually I began teaching, writing about my work, public speaking. I didn’t put my eggs in one basket, so to speak. And that has benefitted me greatly. It’s the premise of my book, Art Inc – that making a living as an artist requires most people, at least in the beginning, to diversify their income streams.

What three key pieces of advice would you give to people thinking of starting their own business?

One – Start where you are. I think what is most paralysing for most people is this fear that they aren’t ready, or that they don’t have all their ducks in a row. And most of the time, we don’t. But the problem is, we never will. So we might as well start where we are, with what we have – the skills, talents, connections, time, that we do have. Take stock of what you do have in place and work from your strengths – we all have strengths. Then, as they say, fake it until you figure the rest of it out. The truth is, most people won’t notice you don’t really know what you are doing.

Two – Dream big and formulate some idea of where you’d like to end up. Then use those ideas of your future business to fuel where you start. For example, if making prints and patterns for home décor is your ultimate dream, immerse yourself in all the things you need to learn to make that happen. Take classes on pattern design and licensing. Practice till your brain hurts. Build your portfolio. Then, email your work to art directors and art buyers. Post your work on social media. Interact with people who might be interested in what you do. Sure, this could take years, but it’s going to take a lot longer if you don’t begin because you’re scared it will take years. And you wouldn’t want success to happen overnight anyway. You wouldn’t be prepared to handle the challenges. That’s why time is a wonderful thing.

Three – Keep sharing what you do. Be excited about it. Your excitement and passion will be contagious. Don’t be shy about talking about your work, both online and in person. Show up at industry events. Talk to people. Ask questions. Connect with people online. Join a support group. Don’t isolate.

You have a very distinctive style – where does your main source of inspiration come from?

I grew up in the 1970s and I am a huge fan of bold graphic design and bright colours. I am also hugely influenced by folk art and textiles and quilts, both modern and traditional. I grew up in a home surrounded by fabric and textiles (my almost 80 year-old mother has been an artist playing with textiles since I was a kid; we now share a studio).

We had modern art posters all over our house. And I also grew up surrounded by books. Even before I became an artist myself, I loved to sew and I collected old things. I love everything vintage. I’ve been scouring flea markets since I was 24. I also love symbolism. So you will see symbols all over my work that reoccur in the same form but in different colours and placements.

You’ve worked for clients including MoMa, Airbnb and Random House, to name but a few. Do you have a favourite project?

Oh gosh, I have loved so many projects over the years! My project with MoMA was definitely a highlight! They gave me access to their entire design collection, and I created a series of drawings of collections of items from their design collection that they put on products, like notebooks. It was truly a dream job!

You’ve written seven books, and run creative courses and boot camps. Can you talk us through how this side of your business came about?

Almost every day I get questions from people over email and social media – about everything from what materials I use to advice for scheduling time to how I get my ideas, to business questions to art technique. At some point about four or five years ago, I realised that teaching would be a great way to share what I have learned in my own journey to help other people on their journey.

So in some cases I make my own classes, which are really inexpensive and low-tech. And in some cases, I work with platforms like CreativeLive or Creativebug, which are much more high tech with really great filming. My classes range from business classes to creativity classes to art classes to classes on the profession of illustration.

Do you have a preferred creative medium?

My favourite medium is paint. I love working either with gouache on paper (if I am working in a smaller scale) or acrylic on wood (I also make large paintings). The painting process is incredibly satisfying to me! Recently I got an iPad Pro and started drawing digitally. Now I’m a little obsessed with it. It's so much faster than painting! I call it my new “sketchbook.” But I will never get away from wet media like paint entirely. The backs of my hands are usually covered in paint because I love getting messy with it.

You’re based in Portland, Oregon – what’s the creative scene like there?

It’s actually pretty amazing for a relatively small city (compared to San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York in the United States). So many artists and illustrators live here. There are great galleries (I am lucky enough to be having a show at Stephanie Chefas Projects in August 2018), independent fashion boutiques, art events, and book stores. The animation company Laika is based here. And so many design agencies. The food scene here is also incredible. I have lived here for three years (I moved from San Francisco) and I still haven’t scratched the restaurant surface. There is a culture of experimentation and innovation here. It’s really inspiring to be around.

You have a lovely Instagram account! Have you found social media to be helpful in building your business?

Thank you! I wouldn’t be in business without social media. It’s a way for me to share my work, the classes I offer, stuff that’s available in my shop, all of it. And it’s also a place for me to share my story, who I am, what I’m up to, tidbits about my life outside of being an artist. I got really burned out with keeping a blog, and so having a place to connect with the people who follow my work (who are very important to me) is really a dream come true. I love Instagram especially because there is so much engagement and idea sharing and inspiration.

What are you currently reading?

I am reading a book called The Three Year Swim Club by Julie Checkoway. It’s a true story about a schoolteacher on the island of Maui in Hawaii, who, in 1937 challenged a group of kids living in poverty to train to go to the Olympics. It’s really well written with tons of history infused. I’m loving it. Also, I am a former competitive swimmer and so anything about swimming is up my ally.

Tell us something that might surprise us

I’m obsessed with true crime.

And finally, what’s next?

Right now I am working on two books. One is a book on finding your creative voice (still haven’t nailed a title) that is due out in 2019. The other is a book on the Periodic Table of Elements for kids – an illustrated encyclopedia of sorts. That comes out in 2020. I also have two big solo shows of my work coming up this year – the first in many years. The first is in Southern California in March and the second is here in Portland in August. So I have my work cut out for me!

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Lisa Congdon

San Francisco mixed media artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon did not begin making art until she was 33 years old; eight years later, it is now the most significant part of her life and livelihood. Aside from four painting classes, Lisa is entirely self-taught. She uses her lack of training to her advantage: instead of following refined technique, she works with her own sense of color, composition and design as her guide.

Lisa’s work has been shown in numerous cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Portland. Her story and art + design work have been featured in countless print magazines and art + design blogs, including 7×7 Magazine, ReadyMade, Country Living, CRAFT, Australia’s Real Living, Decor8, design*sponge, Daily Candy, Juxtapoz, Flavorpill San Francisco, Stitch, Venus and Bitch. Her illustration clients include the National Poetry Foundation, Urban Outfitters, Galison Stationary, iPOP magnets, Yankee Magazine, Random House, Chronicle Books and Pottery Barn. She has a line of stationary with Chronicle Books.

When she is not making art in her studio, Lisa is at Rare Device, the San Francisco design-led shop and art gallery she owns and operates with her friend Rena Tom. She lives in the Mission District of San Francisco with her partner, her 10 pound chihuahua mix, Wilfredo, and her two cats, Barry and Margaret (named for Barry McGee and the late Margaret Kilgallen, two of her favorite artists). She works at her studio several blocks from her home. Lisa serves on the board of directors at Southern Exposure, a 34 year old, non-profit, arts organization in San Francisco dedicated to presenting diverse, innovative, contemporary art, arts education in an accessible environment.

Lisa Congdon’s Website

Lisa Congdon’s Blog

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L i s a C o n g d o n

• illustrator

San Francisco illustrator and fine artist Lisa Congdon was raised in both upstate New York and Northern California where she grew to love the trees and animals that surrounded her. That love is now expressed most intensely through her colorful and imaginative paintings, drawings and three-dimensional collages. She lives and works in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Describe your path to becoming an illustrator and artist. I Tina: read that you didn’t start drawing and painting until you were in your 30’s.

Yes and I didn’t actually become a professional artist until I was in my late 30’s. I turn 44 in a week, so it really hasn’t been that long. I’ve been making art since I was about 32, but I’ve been a really creative person my whole life.

My mom is an artist and I grew up in a household where creativity and exploration were encouraged. Oddly enough, throughout school and college, I never expressed an interest in taking art classes and never thought of myself as an artist.

It was interesting when I did start taking art classes. I had worked for years and years in the field of education. My first job out of college was as an elementary school teacher. Then I went to work at an education non-profit that worked with high-poverty students in the Bay Area. That job was really stressful and so to relax and focus on something positive outside of work, I started taking art classes. That was how I fell into making art.

At first, art was purely a hobby. If you’d have told me ten years ago that I’d be making my living as an illustrator, I would have said you were completely off your rocker. I didn’t have a very developed skill set at the time and I never could have imagined that this thing that I did that brought me joy would be something that I would someday do all the time, really well, and that people would pay money for it.

Was creativity a part of your childhood?

The main way that creativity was part of my childhood was through my mom. She was always making something, whether it was part of her art practice or she was fixing things up around the house. She was the quintessential 1970’s woman; she was a stay-at-home mom, but not in the traditional sense. She is a textile artist and what that meant when I was a kid was that she was a weaver. It was cool and a little bit hippie. She had a huge loom that she would weave on and she was also an great sewer. She got her Master’s degree in fashion and textiles from Penn State.

My mom was like the original Martha Stewart, except she wasn’t worried about things being perfect, so she was a good role model. She was all about us being messy and having fun. I remember everything from her setting up paints and crayons for us at the table to her taking us to art classes and museums. We got exposed to a lot when we were little.

What’s interesting is that my brother, who is two years older than I am, and my sister, who is two years younger—we all have ended up in a creative field, but none of us went to school for art or identified as a creative person until later in life. My brother is a landscape designer and my sister is an artist and a photographer. We all ended up following in my mom’s footsteps. My mom is 73 and still has a studio where she makes stuff every day. She no longer weaves, though. Now she’s into intricate art quilting.

So even before I became an artist, making stuff and art and craft were always a part of my life. I was sewing, decorating my house, making gifts for people. I always had the desire to be crafty, but I never would have called myself an artist until about five or six years ago.

Did you have an “aha” moment along the way when you knew that you wanted to do art as more than just a hobby?

I think there were many pivotal moments for me. When you discover that you love to do something, it might be challenging or even frustrating at first, but something keeps you going back to it for whatever reason. For me, drawing and painting and making collages was something that I knew I wasn’t super skilled at when I first started, but it brought me more joy than anything I had ever experienced in my life. I think there were a series of moments early on when I got in touch with the fact that I felt happier than I’d ever felt in 30+ years. I had spent a lot of time feeling really unhappy, and I thought, “This makes me feel really good; I want to do this all the time.” I still didn’t say, “Oh, this makes me so happy; I want to do this for a living.” I didn’t even think that was possible. I just wanted to spend all my time outside of work making stuff—so I did.

I started a blog in 2005, which no longer exists because I took it down, and the next “aha” moment was when I started sharing art on my blog. I had found intrinsic joy in what I was doing, but when other people like what you do, it sort of doubles the joy. People were saying to me, “Oh, I like what you do and I want to buy it.” I thought, “You want to pay money for this?” I started getting commissions and by 2006, I had my first show in a little shop in Seattle.

The next “aha” moment was when I realized this could be a paying hobby—I still didn’t think I was going to do it as a living. You have to remember that I was basically at the associate director level at one of the larger school-change organizations in California, if not the country. I had worked my way up through the years and was really passionate about what I did, so I didn’t imagine that I was ever going to leave that field to do something else. Now that I look back, I dreaded going to work in the morning and I was miserable compared to what my life is like now. However, I also made decent money, so why would I have given that up to be a starving artist?

It took me a long time to finally have my third “aha” moment, which was when I realized that not only can I make some extra money off of this, but I might actually be able to make a living at some point.

There was an interim between 2007 and 2011 when I owned a shop and gallery in San Francisco called Rare Device. I had opened the store with my friend, which was a great way for me to lead a more creative life and be self-employed, but not be completely reliant on art as my sole income. Ironically, after three and a half years, we ended up selling it because I was so busy with art commissions and illustration jobs that I didn’t need to own the store anymore—I didn’t have time to do it.

Ryan: Was that the tipping point for you to transition into art full-time?

Yeah. People ask me a lot about what it’s like to move from being an artist on the side to making a full-time living from it. I think if you have all your ducks in a row, you can do it. People do it everyday.

I’m not a huge risk-taker when it comes to money so owning a creative side business (the store I referred to a minute ago) allowed me to be self-employed and was a great way to transition. I could get my feet wet being self-employed without relying only on my art to pay the bills. I own an apartment here in San Francisco; I have a mortgage; I had debt, so I couldn’t just quit my job. Having that side business was instrumental. Then, when it was time, my business partner was also ready to sell the shop, so it worked out perfectly. We were able to sell it instead of going out of business. Then, last year, I went full-time as an artist.

“I walked around in the world for a few years thinking, ‘This all happened so fast, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I have no legitimacy.’ I hadn’t gone to art school and hadn’t been doing art for very long. I had a lot of self-doubt about who I was and how I could identify myself as part of the art world.”

Tina: How did you transition out of the non-profit you were working for?

I was working full-time there and they knew I was making art and having shows. Some of them had known me for a long time and had seen my career develop. I was starting to get press, so people were aware of what was happening in my life. The first thing I did was ask them if I could go down to part-time. That was about six months before my friend and I opened our shop. A few months after the shop opened, I continued to work part-time at the non-profit, had the store, and was making art so there was an overlap before I made the transition.

Did you or do you have a mentor?

Not in the traditional sense, but I was super fortunate to get connected with a woman named Jamie who was my studio-mate when I first decided that I needed to take my work outside my home. I found a space to sublet in a big collective housed in a giant warehouse and my studio was right next to Jamie’s so we became really good friends. She had just finished her MFA at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and she is now a very accomplished painter who is represented by a prestigious San Francisco gallery.

She was very influential in that she was one of the first people who helped me see myself as a “real” artist. I walked around in the world for a few years thinking, “This all happened so fast, I don’t know what I’m doing, and I have no legitimacy.” I hadn’t gone to art school and hadn’t been doing art for very long. I had a lot of self-doubt about who I was and how I could identify myself as part of the art world. She just treated me like an equal. She would be working on something and ask me for feedback. For someone who is so accomplished to ask you to help them is so great and it made me brave enough to ask her to help me. And she was so good at giving me clear, concise feedback in a way that I could hear. She even bought an early painting of mine.

We were in that space together for two years and then the people we were subletting from came back so we moved to another studio. We rented that studio for two years together and it was an amazing experience to watch her career develop and to interact with her as a peer. There’s nothing like making art in a room with other people who are making art, especially if they’re really talented. It’s really inspiring.

Was there a point in your life when you decided that you had to take a big risk to move forward?

Yes. I already touched on this a bit. I knew it was time to leave my job back in 2007 when I opened the shop with my friend. By 2010, I had so much art and illustration work coming my way, that I no longer had time to work at the store, much less manage it from afar. By early 2011, we took the leap and decided to try to sell the store. Since February 2011, I’ve been full-time doing illustration work, fine art shows, and some teaching. I also have my Etsy shop where I sell archival prints of my work and some small, more affordable originals. Illustration is my main source of income right now, but that is supplemented by fine art gallery shows, private fine art commissions, Etsy sales and occasional teaching gigs.

Are your family and friends supportive of what you do? Who has encouraged you the most?

My former co-workers and my extended group of friends have all been really wonderful. I’ve also felt really supported by my peers in the San Francisco art community.

My family—it’s been interesting. My mom was always supportive. I think that she may have been a little nervous about how I was going to support myself and what I was doing in my early 40’s giving up this amazing, stable career in education to take this chance, but I think she liked the idea of it because she’s a creative person. My siblings have also always been supportive.

My dad on the other hand—although he never would have said this to my face—was quite nervous, I think. He’s come around to my work and likes it now, but at the time, he was both worried for me and a little confused about what I was doing.

This past holiday I was at my parent’s house in Portland, Oregon. Earlier in the day, I shared with my mom how much money I had made this past year, which was a decent income for an artist. She said, “I can’t wait to tell your father this.” That night at dinner, we were sitting around eating spaghetti and my father said, “Your mother told me today about your accomplishments and I’m so proud of you.” My dad really has come around and fully supports what I do. In fact, my mom commissioned me to make a Christmas present for my dad because he had commented on a particular drawing I made that he really loved. I made one for him and he was really gushing when he opened it.

Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to something bigger than yourself?

Definitely. I went into teaching right out of college because I wanted to give something back to the world. My whole identity was wrapped up in what I gave back every day; that was how I felt good about myself. One of the hardest things for me to overcome when I made the decision to leave my career in education was this sense that I was abandoning my commitment to give back to the world and I felt so much guilt about it. For me, that was the hardest thing about becoming an artist.

I do think I still struggle with this a little because it is so important to me to feel like I’m doing something good in the world every day, but I’ve been able to realize that there are many ways for me to give back. I think when you’re doing something you love in the world every day—if you get up and you’re excited about what you do, it’s good for everyone. I do volunteer occasionally and I also sit on the Board of Directors for an arts non-profit here that supports artists and works with low-income youth to expose them to art.

Are you satisfied creatively?

Never! (laughs) I would say I am satisfied to the extent that I feel super-energized to make stuff every day and I get excited about what I do when I wake up. I never run out of ideas and maybe that’s because I started later in life and feel like I’m trying to play catch-up.

I feel so grateful that I’ve figured out that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. I spent the majority of my life not making art. Because I’ve been given this opportunity so late in life, I have so much gratitude that I might not have had if I had started twenty years ago. I might have felt entitled because I had never done anything else with my life or people always told me I was awesome. I’ve worked really hard for this and it didn’t come to me until I was 40, so I’m eating up every moment of it.

There are some days I might feel overwhelmed. In illustration, you’re getting paid to illustrate other people’s ideas. It’s still a really fun way to make a living, but it’s not like making your own personal work. I make most of my money doing illustration, so it takes up the largest portion of my day. While I do work on some really cool illustration projects, generally speaking it’s not quite as energizing to me as my fine art practice. There are days when I’m on a job that doesn’t feel very exciting or I’m illustrating a cookbook and have to draw a million vegetables. It’s still an awesome way to spend my time, but it can get boring. I do try to structure my day so that I make time to fit in my own personal work because I feel like that makes my work for the other jobs better.

So, in some ways, I do feel satisfied creatively, but every day there are new things I want to try or ways I want to push my work in new and different directions.

Along those lines, is there anything you want to be doing 5 to 10 years from now?

In 5 to 10 years, I hope that I can spend more time making personal work because that’s where I find the greatest amount of satisfaction. I work with a gallery here in San Francisco and I have shows at other galleries. I’m going to be in my first museum show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum here next month and I’m in a show called Abstract Fiction at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, so there are some prestigious things happening for me. For those shows, there might be a theme or direction, but you can pretty much do what you want. I’ve also been able to experiment with materials for some of the shows I’m in, which I love doing. I get so excited when I go to the studio to work on personal work and interesting commissions.

That said, I do love being an illustrator. I’ve fallen into this niche of being a book illustrator, which I’d like to continue to do. I’m also beginning to do book covers. Books are great fun, especially when you are working with a great author or book designer. I’m also hoping to do more pattern + surface design, whether fabric or wallpaper. I learned Illustrator a couple years ago and am now making repeats quite a bit.

If you could go back and do one thing differently, what would it be?

I think maybe I wouldn’t care so much about trying to fit into a certain mold or make certain kinds of work because I thought that’s what people expected of me. The illustration market is a commercial market, so a lot of emphasis is placed on what people are going to buy and what’s going to sell. I think that’s where I got tripped up in the beginning. I think there’s a bit of that in the fine art market too—what kind of imagery and work is hot right now?

In the first few years as a professional artist, I had some growing pains as I struggled to figure out where I fit into the art world and where I fit into the illustration world. I was experimenting with style, mediums, and colors palettes. I felt pressured to make work that I thought other people wanted from me. I wasn’t staying true to what felt unique for me.

In the last year or so, I had an “aha” moment when I realized that I need to be doing work I want to be doing. I think I finally figured out who I am and I’ve stopped worrying about what others think about my work or if it’s going to sell. The irony is that I’ve been more successful over the past year than I ever have.

Another thing I would change is how focused I was on productivity versus quality. I’m not sure if it’s because I came from a different world, but productivity was really important to me. It was about how much I could bang out in one day. I wasn’t taking as great of care early on to work on the details of a painting or work through issues and take my work to the next level and make it meticulous. I look back at some of my early work and think that it’s so messy or underdeveloped.

Now, I take a lot of time with each of my pieces, work hard, and don’t rush through them. I didn’t realize how important it was to sit with your art for a while, take a step back and think about it before you scan it and put it on your blog. I didn’t know that in the beginning and you can really see the difference in my earlier work.

“…I finally figured out who I am and I’ve stopped worrying about what others think about my work or if it’s going to sell. The irony is that I’ve been more successful over the past year than I ever have.”

If you could give one piece of advice to another artist starting out, what would it be?

I think related to what I just said—stay true to yourself. I get asked for advice a lot and I think that if I could tell anyone two things, it would be stay true and take great care with your work.

If you want to be a great artist, use what you are passionate about internally. Draw from yourself, not from what other people are doing. That’s number one. And take great care with your work. Be meticulous, take the time, make it your best. The combination of that care, attention, work ethic, and authenticity is a really strong formula.

How does where you live impact your creativity?

San Francisco is an amazingly colorful, vibrant city with an enormous art and design culture. The whole Bay Area is amazing. I live in the Mission District, which has a large Latino population and culture and is also really vibrant, colorful, and musical. I’ve lived here for almost 22 years and I never get bored. There are always interesting people to look at, new art to see—the street art scene here is insane. In fact, sometimes the pressure is to go out when I’d rather stay home and do nothing.

Also, I’ve found the art community here to be supportive and encouraging. People have been amazing to me and supportive of what I do although I may not have the academic credentials. It definitely influences my work to be here. I think it was important for me to be here when I first started out in art.

With that said, I think it’s a sign that I’m getting older because I’m definitely craving a cottage in the woods or a house in the suburbs with a yard where there’s not a homeless guy yelling outside of my window.

Is it important to you to be part of a creative community of people?

Definitely. I think that being an artist can feel isolating even if you’re working in a studio. I work in a studio by myself and am kind of a hermit. I’m introverted so it’s a perfect fit for me, but it can feel hard and challenging. I’ve made several close friends who are also starting out in the art world and to be able to talk with them is so affirming.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Well, I’m an avid cyclist and swimmer. I get up, eat breakfast, and then most days I either go for a bike ride—anywhere from 12 to 30 miles—or I swim two miles. Occasionally, I train for some athletic event or race. I get up early to exercise because I often have eight or nine hours of work to do. The cool thing is that I can exercise in the middle of the day if I need to. I have a flexibility in deciding how I spend my time. I don’t think I would be able to have this lifestyle if I wasn’t self-employed. After cycling or swimming, I come home, take a shower, eat a second breakfast, and start work.

Most days I’m in the studio for at least five hours. My studio is less than a mile from where I live so I either ride my bike or walk. It’s this amazing light-filled space with skylights and old brick walls. I’m lucky that I have a studio space I want to go to.

Occasionally, I take a whole day at home to work on the computer since I don’t have one in my studio, but I try to get into the studio and get my hands dirty as often as I can. The stuff I do at home is mostly administrative: bookkeeping, responding to emails, posting to my blog, and scanning work into Photoshop to clean it up. Over the course of the week, I spend 20% of my time on administrative tasks and about 80% making stuff. Some weeks it’s more 50/50, but I like to have the majority of my week dedicated to making art.

After work, I come home and eat dinner with my partner, Clay. We’re very religious about cooking and eating together every night. In that way, I finally feel like a grown-up. I spent a lot of years working like a dog in an office and going out to eat a lot. I’ve settled down in the last few years and now I spend a lot of time at home in the evenings relaxing, watching a movie, or reading. Sometimes I’ll go out to a music show or an art opening, but that’s once or twice a week at the most.

(This is where we pause the interview so we can meet the charming Wilfredo who played shy.)

Since you’re in the studio most days, what albums are you listening to right now?

I actually spend most of my time listening to audiobooks. Not that I don’t love music—I do. I bought the new Beirut album a while ago and have just now had a chance to listen to it.

Right before Christmas, I had insane deadlines and a crazy amount of work that I had to finish before I left for my parent’s house. For two weeks, I was spending at least 8–12 hours in the studio drawing and painting. The only way I could power through was to listen to something that made the time pass. Somebody suggested listening to a good, riveting mystery novel. It totally worked. I just finished listening to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series.

Favorite movie or T.V. show?

I love watching Top Chef or any cooking shows. I love Project Runway and I also got into that British series, Downton Abbey .

Favorite food?

That’s a hard one for me because I like so many foods, but I would say Japanese food is my favorite and has been for a really long time. When I became vegan three years ago, I had to give up a lot of food. With most Asian food, I don’t have to give up a lot other than the meat. There are a lot of good places to get Japanese food around here and I like to make it too. I even figured out how to make vegetarian sushi.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?

I think that I would like people to remember me as someone who made a lot of beautiful and thought-provoking work.

“Kindness is something I value most in myself and other people. You can’t necessarily love everyone that you meet or come into contact with in this world—that requires time and effort and circumstance—but you certainly can be kind.”

ARTICLE INFO & CREDITS

• Published on January 24, 2012
• Interview by Ryan & Tina Essmaker on January 11, 2012
• Transcribed by Tina Essmaker
• Edited by Tina Essmaker

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Lisa Congdon Is Cataloging Herself

By Matthew Trueherz September 19, 2022

The first installment of Congdon’s quarterly self-published monograph is titled  Saturation. 

Image: Courtesy Lisa Congdon

Lisa Congdon moves in a lot of different directions . Maybe you’ve seen the Portland artist’s bright , folk art -inspired paintings on gallery walls , or her motivational typograph ic illustrations on magnets and calendars , or Method soap dispensers , or printed on a blouse , or a chair , or a plate . Her widely accessible animal motifs and geometric patterns —seen everywhere from Target to Rockefeller Center — are often paired with quotes borrowed from litera ture like , “You contain multitudes,” or phrases as simpl e as , “Nice to see you!”  

Because she works across so many mediums, and many—like greeting cards and notepads —that are ephemeral by nature, Congdon’s work can be fleeting. Th at got her thinking about compendiums : wondering h ow to present years of diffuse work in a single spot . On September 8, Congdon announced Laundry Room , a series of quarterly, self-published, half-art-books-half-zines that would collect roughly 40 works current and past, covering the gamut of her practice . Some of Congdon’s 455,000 Instagram followers immediat e ly jumped aboard, $72 price tag be damned. T he limited run of 100 copies sold out in an hour.  

“I'm not ready to have a full hardbound monograph yet, but it was important to me to document my work,” says Congdon. “ I've never been precious, but maybe there is part of me that ’ s like, ‘Let's make something that’s special and unique not available at Target . ’”   

Lisa Congdon in studio

For Congdon, laundry brings order to the madnes s of the world. Growing up, fold ing laundry meant bonding time with her mo m and sister; now, the task functions as a sort of chaotic poetry between her and her wife—an avid ironer. “A soothing joint ritual in our relationship,” she calls it in the opening essay of Laundry Room ’s inaugural issue , titled Saturation .  

Laundry is restorative, but can also cement stains and decay your garments : it’s just one step in the process of the life of your clothes. Congdon writes that the same is true of her art . “We take the mess we are dealt (or that we create), ” she says, “ and we ritually attempt to make it presentable and good-smelling.”  

Culling through her archives—digital, print, sketchbook, iPhone camera roll— Congdon applies the same re-presentation philosophy in this new series . No new works were produced for th e publication, but, instead , existing pieces from the last seven years of Congdon’s practice are thrown together in various combinations to create r elationship s between ostensibly disparate pieces.     

A painting of Frida Kahlo’s toothbrush and a digitally rendered pattern

“I made this painting of Frida Kahlo’s toothbrush,” Congdon explains of one of the volume’s oldest works. Years after Kahlo’s death, her wardrobe and personal effects were unearthed and cataloged. “I was obsessed with that story, and then I got asked to create work for this traveling show of Frida Kahlo– related stuff,” says Congdon. Opposite the subdued, textural painting is a digitally rendered pattern with clean lines and a coincidentally similar color scheme, dot t ed in hearts and apples, with mouths repeating the word , “ Y es.”  

Traditionally, a monograph adds context to the art . But a side from that introductory essay , the first issue of Laundry Room is strikingly void of type—no captions, not even page numbers. “I toyed for a second with having some kind of index in the back , b ut I chose to just let people experience it for what it was,” she says.  

“ I was being cheeky: the cat is next to the milk but those things were made at completely separate times. In fact, the milk carton is an acrylic painting that was in a show a few years ago , a nd the cat is a digital drawing. ”  

Looking forward, Congdon plans to keep up with the quarterly publications as long as they hold her interest. Some issues may be printed in higher numbers, though always in limited quantities, and the price may change to reflect the processes involved.  

“You grow and change as an artist, and we’re always so hyperfocused on the work that we’re currently doing,” says Congdon. “There's an opportunity [with this project] to play with my current and past work in a way that I couldn’t any other way.” A poem-as-care-label closes the last page of the first installment of Laundry Room , and it sweetly distills Congdon’s whole philosophy : “made with love / handle with care / revel in the ritual / enjoy the journey / this is life.”    

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Lisa Congdon is a Portland, Oregon-based fine artist, illustrator and author known internationally for her colorful drawings and hand lettering. Her playful work is recognized for its vibrant palettes, geometric patterns and uplifting messages.

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Lisa Congdon x Dovetail Workwear

I am so excited to announce that I’m working with one of my favorite woman-owned companies as a brand ambassador & pattern designer! Dovetail Workwear is based in Portland, OR, and design & sell super durable, gorgeous workwear made for the bodies of women & nonbinary folks. Any of you out there who work outside or with machinery, tools or paint? This stuff is especially for you, but it’s awesome for EVERYONE. Shop their line of workwear and accessories, including my new bandana with discount code LISACONGDON for $10 of your order!

Lisa Congdon on Creativebug!

Did you know Lisa has 14 (!!!) art-making classes on Creativebug? From 30-day drawing challenges to how to approach keeping a sketchbook (and keeping it fun) to a handful of brief project-based classes, you can find all of the options here . Take them at your leisure, post and your work on the platform (this is optional), and use Lisa's prompts, tricks and tips to continually grow as a creative. Curious about the classes? Each class has a video trailer and an in depth description of activities and materials. See you in class!

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See "Hold It Lightly" through June!

As many of you know, my museum show,  Hold it Lightly , has been extended through June of 2024, so there are tons more opportunities to see it!  Hold it Lightly  is on view Wednesday to Sunday — 10am to 4pm

Learn more about the show  here .

Interested in purchasing work from the show?   You can view and purchase  right here  on our website!

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How a teacher bloomed into a professional artist.

• When Lisa started taking art classes in her early 30’s, she discovered that missing piece.
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Lisa Congdon is proof that blooming ‘late’ can be as rewarding as blooming early. Congdon, a fine artist, illustrator, author and blogger, spent the first 15 years of her career in public education, first as a teacher, later in a non-profit. Maybe it isn’t so much that she was a late-bloomer, as that she bloomed early as a tulip, before deciding she needed to be a sunflower. “I felt exceptionally committed to the cause of public education, but I also felt like there was something missing from my day-to-day experience.” When Lisa started taking art classes in her early 30’s, she discovered that missing piece.

Lisa Congdon is a fine artist, illustrator, author and blogger. (Photo Courtesy of Lisa Congdon)

Congdon didn’t discover she was a world-class artist; in fact, she describes her early efforts as “pretty horrible.” Nor did she initially imagine that she could successfully make a living as an artist, or build a business on the foundation of her talent. But timing was critical: her mid-career pivot from education to art meshed perfectly with the development of technology that enables the ambitious and creative to reach a larger audience.

Congdon's clients include the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard University and Martha Stewart Living. ... [+] (Wildflowers No. 2 by Lisa Congdon, Courtesy Quarto Publishing)

Congdon has an eclectic collection of clients scattered around the world, including ‘locally’ the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard University , Martha Stewart Living, Chronicle Books, Simon & Schuster, and Cloud9 Fabrics. She is known for colorful abstract painting, intricate line drawings, hand-lettering and pattern design. In addition, she offers art classes, including ‘Become a Working Artist’—a 22 session class focused on balancing the business and creative aspects of making a living as an artist.

She credits her accountant with helping her make the transition from reliance on a traditional paycheck to successful management of the business side of solo-preneurship as a career artist. Today she oversees a growing team of employees who handle the day-to-day details, from answering the phones to marketing her business, while continuing to focus on the creative aspects of her multi-faceted career.

She speaks to audiences around the U.S. about how to make a living as an artist. (Photo Courtesy ... [+] Lisa Congdon)

Additionally, she speaks to audiences around the country, and particularly on the subjects of how to make a living as an artist , her own late start on the creative career path, diversifying as both a fine artist and a commercial artist and the ongoing changes in the art market resulting from technology and other developments.

Congdon has also authored several books including Art Inc.: The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist ; successfully intended to squelch the myth of the starving artist. She passionately encourages aspiring artists of every age to believe in and pursue the opportunity to make a living through creative endeavors. She is the creator/illustrator of a number of other titles, with a new offering, The Joy of Swimming: A Celebration of Our Love for Getting in the Water released earlier this year.

Lisa Congdon exemplifies the possibilities of personal disruption . It’s a big leap from devoted schoolteacher to successful fine artist, but Congdon successfully bridges that chasm. Her example also highlights that we can have several, or many, passions in our single lifetime. We may pursue them concurrently or consecutively, mixing and mingling them in the way that works for our individual circumstances.

"There are all kinds of paths and all kinds of things you can begin as you age." (Courtesy Lisa ... [+] Congdon)

“I think it’s important,” she writes, “for people to know there are all kinds of paths, and all kinds of ways to live a life, and all kinds of things you can begin as you age. And so here I go, leaning toward my fifties, hair greying, wrinkles gathering, experiences accruing, insights accumulating, joy abounding.”

Because as any gardener—or garden appreciator—knows, we need sunflowers as badly as we need tulips, and bringing color to the garden late is just as wonderful and desirable as bringing it early.

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Design Icons: Lisa Congdon

Known for her bright, colorful graphic drawings and hand lettering, Lisa Congdon has taken the design world by storm. Over the course of her career, she has worked with a wide range of companies including giants like Target, Amazon, Google, Warby Parker, REI, and MoMA, and is the author of over 10 books including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist and Find your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic. She is an avid mentor and teacher, sharing her knowledge and experience through a variety of channels including in her role as cofounder of The Long Table Foundation .

Lisa began her career journey in art and design after working in education and the nonprofit sector for over a decade. Her unconventional path to becoming an artist and designer at nearly 40 years old has been an inspiration to many in the industry and those looking to make their own career shift. We spoke with Lisa about her career path, the importance of taking risks, how to create work that features what you care about most, and more.

Hi Lisa! Tell us about yourself – how did you get to where you are today?

I started my art career in what, at the time, was a very unconventional way. Growing up, I never thought of myself as being artistic and, aside from really loving to decorate my room as a kid and fashion as a teenager, I never remember having any particular interest in art or design. When I was in my twenties, I was in a relationship for nearly the entire decade with someone who was a graphic designer and artist. She opened up this whole world to me – art, design, museums, art and design books. We collected mid-century furniture and that’s when I began collecting old packaging and erasers. But, I never thought of myself as an artist! I only thought of myself as someone who loved art and design.

When I was about 31 years old, I ended that relationship. I was living by myself for the first time in many years, and I was a bit bored and lonely. I decided to sign up for a painting class. And that was where my own creative journey began! From there I began painting and drawing and sewing outside of my 9-5 job. Eventually I started a blog around 2004, then joined the photo sharing site Flickr. In both of those places I posted images of the work I was making and meeting other creatives. In 2007, I took the leap and went part time at my job and within six months I left that job to do freelance work and run an Etsy shop full time. Meanwhile I was making a lot of work, trying to hone my style. And by 2008, I signed with an illustration agent. And then my illustration career began. From there, it’s just grown and grown – slowly at first, then in more recent years, my career has exploded. I now run a studio with 2.5 employees and an e-commerce site.

Before making the jump to full-time artist, Lisa also immersed herself in research about the industry and building an art career.

I learned as much as I could about what that might look like – including illustration, opening an Etsy shop, and having gallery shows. I talked to as many people as I could, networked, read as much as I could, and, of course, kept working on finding my voice. And I got the courage toward the end of 2007, when I was around 39, to leave my job and try to make a living as a creative. It was difficult financially for the first few years. But, I kept my head down and was dogged about my ambitions. Ultimately, I did it because I felt I had to try! What did I have to lose? I am so glad I listened to my gut.

Throughout the process of changing careers and embarking on a new creative journey, what were some of the key lessons you learned? 

I learned so much in that time. First, I paid off all debt (and didn’t incur any more) so that I could put all the money I made toward paying my living expenses and investing back into my business. That really helped me to know exactly where I was financially at all times. Second, I got out there and met people. I am an introvert and that wasn’t easy for me, but I went to art openings and attended design talks. I kept a blog, but I also followed other people’s blogs, and eventually that transitioned over to Instagram. I focused on making friends and becoming part of the art/design community. This is not a career you can do in isolation, and yet being a full time freelancer is something we typically do alone. So finding a community helped me to get work.

It’s risky to completely change your career path after being entrenched in a particular industry for over a decade. Do you think it’s important to take risks in your work? Why? 

There is a simple saying that goes something like, “no risk, no reward.” Things feel risky because they’re new or you don’t know that the outcome will be. But the truth is we don’t ever know the outcome of anything. And so how can we advance in our art or design career or make better work if we do not go outside what’s comfortable or try new things simply because we aren’t guaranteed a certain outcome? We need to get comfortable with failure as a normal part of the process.

What is your creative process like and how do you approach creative collaboration with clients and/or other artists? 

Whether I am making personal work or working with a client, I sketch and ideate my work first about 85% of the time. There is about 15% of the time that I work improvisationally, where I sit down to make a “final” thing without ideating or drawing first. But that usually only happens with I have a SUPER clear vision. But, most of the time, planning has become a super important part of my practice. And that starts with ideating. When I am working with a client, I make sure to get as much art direction as possible going into an assignment. What is it they envision? What pieces of my existing portfolio do they like best or are inspired by? Asking these kinds of questions saves me unnecessary back and forth with changes. Then I ideate away! Ideating looks like making lists of concepts, words, things that relate to what I’m about to draw. After that, I begin drawing, sloppily at first, then things grow tighter and tighter as I get closer to where I want to go. Even when I am making personal work, say, making a painting for a show, I sketch what I am going to paint first. I rarely show up at a canvas without a plan. The reason I do that is because it just feels more efficient to me and less wasteful of materials. I’ve learned over the years that’s how I work best. I work almost exclusively on the iPad for everything from sketches to final client illustrations. I love digital drawing because making changes is so easy and saves so much time. Digital tools are so flexible now and working this fast has really helped me to stay on top of my workload. 

You’ve mentioned before that you’re able to use your art to focus on the things that matter to you the most, like social justice. What are your tips for creating work that embodies your values and supports the causes that you believe in? 

I think the best place to start is to actually figure out what DOES matter to you. I like to start with my values – what do I value? What’s important to me? I even published a Values Deck that helps folks determine their core values. Knowing this information can help you make decisions and stay true to yourself. We live in a world filled with stressful issues – climate change, racial injustice, discrimination, to name a few. Which issues in the world do you care about the most? Name those issues. Using your art or design to shed light on or raise money for a cause can be a helpful way to feel like you are making a difference. 

What is your perspective on the importance of visual representation and the power of visuals to positively affect change? 

Representation matters! If we do not see ourselves reflected in art and other media we feel invisible! I show up as a whole person on the internet – not just in the work I make, but also in my presence on social media. I am openly queer, married to a woman, and openly support a range of social justice causes. As someone with a platform, it’s important for me to show what I stand for and to use my platform to impact change – to make others feel seen, and also to amplify the voices of folks who have less privilege than I have.

You are so generous with your time and knowledge – hosting classes and serving as a mentor, regularly speaking at conferences and sharing your insights via interviews. You are also the co-founder of The Long Table Foundation, which provides professional mentoring and grants for Black Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian artists and creative entrepreneurs. What are your thoughts on the importance of community and mentoring other creatives? 

My entire career rests on the backs of the generosity of others – those who wrote books, taught classes, mentored me. The fact that they shared their knowledge was critical to my success. Service has always been an important value to me – this notion of giving back, especially to those who have had fewer opportunities than I’ve has become baked into the mission of my business. I also believe in community over competition – that my success (customers, sales, notoriety, etc) doesn’t mean there will be less of that for you and your success doesn’t mean less for me. I believe there is enough for everyone to go around, and that hoarding wealth and knowledge simply upholds white supremacy and the patriarchy.

In addition to your many professional accomplishments, you’re also an avid cyclist! What drew you to cycling and has cycling influenced how you work? 

I am asked a lot why I love cycling so much, and I’m always trying (unsuccessfully) to put into words why I love it so much! I am one of those weirdos who loves vigorous exercise and for whom that vigorous exercise gives me a feeling of life and energy. And cycling is great because it’s that kind of workout (if you go fast) and it’s in the outdoors. It’s never boring. I also get to think a lot while I am on my bike, and it is where I come up with lots of ideas and work a lot of things out in my head. I first got into cycling when I was around 30 years old, and I signed up for an event where I rode my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I remember really loving it then, but I was too consumed in my friends and life at the time to take it seriously as a hobby after training for the event was over. And then when I met my now-wife in 2008, she was riding a lot and got me back on the bike, and since then I haven’t stopped. In fact, I’ve ramped up my cycling to a new level in the past few years. I started riding on gravel, which means I’m off road on dirt, gravel trails, even sand, as much as I ride on paved roads. Cycling is exhilarating and it uses an entirely different part of my brain and body that making art. It’s the perfect release from the stress of deadlines and back-to-back projects. My mind is free to focus on what’s in front of me.

When you look to the future, what are you most excited about right now? 

I am almost 55 years old, so “retirement” is in the next decade for me. So much of what I am thinking about is how to work less and take the most meaningful projects and still keep my business alive and thriving for the next decade. This is both an exciting challenge, but, if I’m being completely honest, is also a little scary.

If you could give one piece of advice to the next generation of creators, what would it be? 

Keep showing up. There is no magic pill that makes you a successful designer or illustrator. You have to find and dive into the parts of the creative process you love, keep working at those parts over the long haul and understand that it will be a little messy. But, the good news is, the mess is where the magic happens!

Thank you for sharing with us Lisa! To view more of Lisa’s work, visit her website , support her shop , and follow her on Instagram .

All art courtesy of Lisa Congdon.

VP, Brand Marketing & Communications at Noun Project

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Enter Artist Lisa Congdon’s Colorful World

• By CHRISTINE DEORIO
• Photos by TBD
• June 6, 2022

Artist Lisa Congdon poses in her Portland studio. (Photo: Christopher Dibble)

Colorful, playful forms are the calling card of Lisa Congdon, the Portland-based artist whose work has adorned everything from Method hand-soap bottles to Commedes Garçons apparel to the walls of collectors’ homes. But just two decades ago, the prolific creator didn’t consider herself an artist at all. “I didn’t start drawing or painting until I was about 32,” Congdon says. “I never nurtured that creative part of myself—or even knew it existed.”

The source of some of Congdon's inspiration can be found on this colorful bulletin board.

Congdon uses an iPad to create some of her commercial work.

Congdon's work includes fine art and products, including these brightly colored magnets.

Congdon's tools of the trade—paintbrushes and pencils—are found in her studio.

A collection of pink-hued items hangs on the studio wall.

Pieces of tape carry the remnants of the artist's colors.

In the early aughts, she started taking art classes just for fun. “Something lit up in me,” she says. “I wasn’t very good at it, but I loved it, so I got my basic chops down—how to draw, how to paint.” In 2006, she staged her first show in a Seattle shop and since then the Lisa Congdon brand has expanded to encompass 10 books, a podcast, online classes, apparel and homewares, as well as collaborations with clients including Target, Amazon, Crate & Barrel and MoMA.

Underpinning all that output is fine art, which Congdon makes in the studio behind her Portland storefront and displays in regular solo shows at the Stephanie Chefas Projects gallery. Whereas most of her commercial work is digitally drawn on an iPad, Congdon’s fine art comes to life in strokes of acrylic and gouache. “It’s this precious time when I’m focusing on a new color palette or style,” she explains. “For someone who does so much art-directed work, making fine art is such a gift because you have time to ask, ‘What is it that I want to say?’”

Her creations reveal a love for vibrant color, nature, midcentury design and the graphic shapes of folk art, as well as passions for mental health awareness and social justice, which Congdon addresses through hand-lettered messages embedded in her illustrations. “A lot of artists think they need to make work that’s going to be attractive to potential clients,” she notes. “But really what attracts anybody is your passion for the thing.”

Congdon’s non-commercial work often pushes her into fresh subject matter that leads to collaborations with new and unexpected clients. Her most recent solo show, “North Coast,” highlighted art inspired by her explorations of the flora, fauna and folklore of Oregon’s northern coast. “Nine times out of 10, the pieces I make for fun get licensed or inspire a product design,” she says. “It’s what leads me to the work that resonates the most.”

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Lisa Congdon

Fine artist, illustrator, and author Lisa Congdon is best known for her energetic and colorful illustrations.

Over the past decade, she has worked for clients around the world including MoMA, REI, Harvard University, Chronicle Books, and Simon & Schuster Publishing, among many others. She is the author of seven books, including the starving-artist-myth-smashing Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist . She was named one of 40 Women Over 40 to Watch in 2015, and she is featured in the 2017 book 200 Women Who Will Change the Way You See the World . She lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Available From Lisa Congdon

Heart Hurts Empathy Card

So Thankful Card

Happy Day Card

Magical You Birthday Card

'A Collection a Day': Lisa Congdon's Obsessive and Unusual Art Project

A Collection a Day catalogs all 365 of Congdon's quirky, obsessive, endlessly curious collections of tchotchkes -- erasers, pencils, vintage stamps, mushrooms, receipts, medals, maps, sea urchins, and just about everything in between -- in a beautiful volume that's somehow calming and centering in its neatness, a rare oasis of order amidst the chaos of the everyday stuff that surrounds us.

Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting and with arranging, organizing, and displaying my collections. This is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. --Lisa Congdon

For a peek inside Congdon's creative process and what makes these collections so alluring watch her wonderful recent talk from the San Francisco chapter of Creative Mornings -- bonus points for the Ursus Wehrli, Andy Goldsworthy, and Edward Tufte references.

I think that ordinary objects become something different when they're arranged with other like things.... Seeing things with other like things helps us to see them in new ways. --Lisa Congdon

Beautifully photographed and illustrated, A Collection a Day is a charming meditation on objects and stuff, part Obsessive Consumption , part Things , part its very own peculiar project with its own peculiar character.

Images: Lisa Congdon/UPPERCASE.

This post also appears on Brain Pickings .

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Lisa Congdon Facts

Lisa Congdon is an American artist, illustrator, and author. She is best known for her colourful drawings and lettering.

Disclaimer : This post includes Amazon product images that include affiliate links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Primary Facts earns from qualifying purchases.

Facts About Lisa Congdon

• Lisa Congdon was born in 1968. She grew up in New York and Northern California.
• Her mother was a textile artist.
• She was a competitive swimmer.
• She married Clay Lauren Walsh in 2013.
• She lives in Portland, Oregon, US.
• Before becoming an artist, she worked in public education as both a teacher and an administrator.
• She took some art classes in her thirties, and she discovered a talent and a passion for drawing and painting.
• She is the author of several books, including The Joy of Swimming , Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist , Twenty Ways to Draw a Tulip , and Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lisa Congdon (@lisacongdon)

• She has produced a series of colouring books called Just Add Color .
• Lisa Congdon’s illustrations have been included in several books, including Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein, and Broad Strokes .
• Her artwork has been exhibited in San Francisco, Portland, and Atlanta.
• She has provided artwork for numerous clients around the world, including Amazon, Sonos, AirB&B, Target, Google, Method, and REI.
• She hosts a podcast called The Lisa Congdon Sessions.
• Lisa Congdon’s work is influenced by folk art, textiles, and the bold and bright graphic design of the 1970s.
• Her favourite art medium is paint. She enjoys painting acrylic paint on wood, or gouache on paper.
• She enjoys reading and watching TV shows about true crime.
• Lisa Congdon enjoys cycling.
• She likes the Top Chef , Project Runway , and Downton Abbey TV shows.
• Japanese food is her favourite cuisine.
• Alexander Girard is one of her favourite artists.
• One of her favourite mottos is – Begin anyhow.
• She keeps dogs as pets, and she has had ones named Wilfredo and Milkshake.
• She likes shopping for vintage items at flea markets and antique malls.
• She is an avid reader, and she often listens to audiobooks when working in her studio.
• She often gets up before 6 o’clock in the morning.
• Her favourite author is Ursula Hegi (the writer of Salt Dancers and Stones from the River ).

Kindness is something I value most in myself and other people. You can’t necessarily love everyone that you meet or come into contact with in this world—that requires time and effort and circumstance—but you certainly can be kind. Lisa Congdon

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The Solo Debut of Lisa Congdon Exhibition Opens at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art

Gallery view of the exhibition Hold it Lightly featuring serigraphs by Lisa Congdon /  Photograph by Francis Tatem.

“Hold it Lightly” brings forward Congdon's graphic designs conveying messages and symbols of radical love and hope.

Moraga, California  –  The exhibition Hold it Lightly will open at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (SMCMoA), featuring original printed matter by artist and designer Lisa Congdon . On view from September 13 through December 10, 2023, the exhibition marks Congdon’s first solo museum debut. Hold it Lightly features fifty-seven serigraphs created and displayed in dialogue with work by the 1960s pop artist Corita Kent . Opening concurrently with Corita’s heroes & sheroes series, Hold it Lightly brings forward Congdon’s graphic designs, conveying messages and symbols of radical love and hope.

Congdon (b. 1968) is a Portland-based artist, designer, writer, and activist who infuses art with joy and vibrancy through her bright colors and hand lettering. The exhibition Hold it Lightly connects many influences in Congdon’s development. Growing up in Northern California, she attended Saint Mary’s College of California, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1990. When first entering the exhibition, visitors will encounter a gallery featuring ephemera and social memories of Congdon that contextualize her creative growth and development at the College. Beyond this space, the hand-painted murals and designs of Hold it Lightly showcase serigraphs reflecting both Congdon’s signature designs and new original work. Bringing forward concepts of play, three-dimensional works on paper and board accompany the exhibition. Congdon’s serigraphs speak to the impact of Corita’s art practices, highlighting the visual language of love, play, and acceptance through messaging and symbols. 

“Ben Shahn once referred to Corita as a 'Joyous Revolutionary,' and this is something that resonated with me. I’ve always understood art, including my own, to reflect the human struggle,” Congdon stated. “For a long time, I existed in a place of disconnect since I felt to be taken seriously, my work needed to be dark or edgy. As humans, we want to make everything sit at opposite ends of the binary. To be a revolutionary, someone who cares about how they show up in the broken world, and to be joyful, means sitting in this gray area where both can exist. Corita is not only a role model in this area but also through her approach to making art, providing a space for me to feel that joyful work could be playful and serious.” 

“Here’s how that works: have the goal but hold it lightly; have the dream but hold it lightly; love the friend and hold her lightly… Holding it lightly reminds me to breathe, chill, loosen, soften, let go.”

In the series Radical Acceptance, Radical Inclusion , Radical Joy, and Radical Love hand-drawn typography radiates the entire design with a united rhythm through irregular layering. Congdon pairs these hand-lettered affirmations with universal symbols shaping resilience, community, courage, and harmony. The bright imagery takes shape through the balancing of forms and fauna of birds, waves, butterflies, and tigers through a refined palette of blue, pink, black, white, and gray that unite the overall series.

The exhibition’s signature image, Hold it Lightly, features the careful balance of colors and shapes reflecting the message’s meaning, a practice Congdon began embracing in February 2023. From an Instagram post, Congdon expanded on the message. “Here’s how that works: have the goal but hold it lightly; have the dream but hold it lightly; love the friend and hold her lightly… Holding it lightly reminds me to breathe, chill, loosen, soften, let go.” 

Congdon’s choice of printed matter responds directly to Corita’s printmaking application of serigraphs. Also known as silk screens, serigraphs often involve an artist working with an off-site printmaker, a process that both Corita and Congdon employed. As opposed to paintings, prints are a democratic medium, inherently producing multiples through affordable means accessible to the masses. Congdon’s approach to silkscreen reflects the current era and integration of technologies in design. Her process begins with digital drawings, which are then transformed into multi-color, layered serigraphs. Corita’s influence of pulling images, song lyrics, and newspaper clippings from the 1960s and juxtaposing these materials to create images of hope and love is reenvisioned through Congdon’s Hold it Lightly series. This series speaks to cultural movements and reimagining iconography in the 2020s. 

“We are honored to organize the first solo museum exhibition featuring work by Lisa Congdon. Lisa’s imagery marks a radical shift in 21st-century American design. Her ability to reshape universal symbols to resonate with contemporary culture enables her work to inspire students and visitors in a unique way,” states Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art Executive Director Lauren MacDonald .

“Lisa’s imagery marks a radical shift in 21st-century American design. Her ability to reshape universal symbols to resonate with contemporary culture enables her work to inspire students and visitors in a unique way.”

Hold it Lightly is accompanied by a catalogue, the first exhibition monograph for the artist, published in collaboration with Brown Printing, Inc. in Portland, Oregon. All original serigraphs are printed in collaboration with Nicholas Bittakis and his staff at Seizure Palace Printing. Hold it Lightly is organized by Lauren MacDonald and Britt Royer, Curator at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art. The exhibition is presented in conversation with heroes & sheroes organized by the Corita Art Center of Los Angeles, corita.org . 

An opening reception will be held on September 14 from 4 to 8 p.m. This event is free and open to all. A VIP Reception and fundraising event will be held on September 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. will feature a silent auction of Hold it Lightly serigraphs with a paired wine tasting. Tickets are available through the museum website. On September 15 at 2 p.m., join us for an artist talk with Lisa Congdon. A complete list of programming will be found at stmarys-ca.edu/museum . 

WATCH: More Joy & More Play: Previewing the Fall Exhibitions at the Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art

About Lisa Congdon 

Lisa Congdon is an internationally known fine artist, illustrator, and bestselling author. She makes art for clients around the globe, including Target, Amazon, Google, Schwinn, Madewell, Rumpl, The Library of Congress, Brooks Running, Warby Parker, Method, Comme des Garcons, REI, and MoMA, among many others. She is the author of ten books, including A rt Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist and Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic. She exhibits internationally, including solo shows at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (California), Chefas Projects (Oregon), and Paradigm Gallery (Philadelphia), along with group shows at Hashimoto Contemporary in Los Angeles, Museum of Design Atlanta, and The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Lisa is self-taught and didn’t achieve momentum in her career until she was nearly 40 years old. Despite her untraditional path, Lisa has achieved recognition, not just as an artist, but as a leader in the industry for her work in social justice, knowledge sharing, mentoring, and teaching. In March of 2021, she was named “One of the 50 Most Inspiring People and Companies According to Industry Creatives,” published by AdWeek. When she's not making art, you can find her racing bikes. She lives, cycles, and works in Portland, Oregon. To learn more, please visit lisacongdon.com or @lisacongdon on social media. 

About Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art (SMCMoA) 

Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art  (SMCMoA) is a landmark for art in Northern California, with a permanent collection of over 5,000 objects. Inspired by its founder, Brother Cornelius Braeg, the museum cares for the nation’s most comprehensive collection of William Keith paintings. The museum offers educational and programming opportunities with rotating exhibitions twice a year for the College and the surrounding community. SMCMoA is located across the street from the Soda Activity Center at Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, Calif. Programs and admission are free for all. Public tours begin in September and will be offered Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. Please contact the Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art at 925-631-4379 or at [email protected] for further inquiries. More information can be found at stmarys-ca.edu/museum or by following us on social media @smcmoa.

About Saint Mary’s College of California

At Saint Mary’s College of California, we inspire minds, engage with the world, and create opportunities for students to find their lives transformed. With small class sizes and professors who know you by name, the Saint Mary’s experience empowers students to thrive—whether you’re an undergraduate or a professional looking for the next step in your career. Founded in 1863, the University is proud of our Lasallian heritage and how it fuels teaching and learning in an inclusive and wonderfully diverse community. More than 3,600 Gaels study on our Bay Area campus nestled in the rolling hills of Moraga, just 23 miles east of San Francisco. US News and World Report puts SMC among the top five regional universities in the West. You’ll also find Saint Mary’s highlighted in the guide Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change The Way You Think About Colleges —the only Catholic college and the only university in California to make the list.

© 2024 Saint Mary’s College of California

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Lisa Congdon

About the author.

Lisa Congdon an internationally known fine artist, illustrator and writer. She makes art for clients around the globe, including Target, Amazon, Google, Schwinn, Warby Parker, Method, Comme des Garcons, REI and MoMA, among many others. She is the author of ten books, including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist and Find your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic. Lisa is self-taught and didn’t achieve momentum in her career until she was nearly 40 years old. Despite her untraditional path, Lisa has achieved recognition, not just as an artist, but as a leader in the industry for her work in social justice, knowledge sharing, mentoring and teaching. In March of 2021, she was named “One of the 50 Most Inspiring People and Companies According to Industry Creatives” published by AdWeek. When she's not making art, you can find her in her bike. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon. www.lisacongdon.com

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Lisa Congdon

Age, biography and wiki.

Lisa Congdon was born on 17 January, 1968 in Niskayuna, New York, United States. Discover Lisa Congdon's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is She in this year and how She spends money? Also learn how She earned most of networth at the age of 56 years old?

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 17 January. She is a member of famous with the age 56 years old group.

Lisa Congdon Height, Weight & Measurements

At 56 years old, Lisa Congdon height not available right now. We will update Lisa Congdon's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Who Is Lisa Congdon's Husband?

Her husband is Clay Lauren Walsh (m. 2013)

Lisa Congdon Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2022-2023. So, how much is Lisa Congdon worth at the age of 56 years old? Lisa Congdon’s income source is mostly from being a successful . She is from United States. We have estimated Lisa Congdon's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets.

Lisa Congdon Social Network

Published by Chronicle Books in October 2017, A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives, explores the power of women over the age of forty who are thriving and living life on their own terms. Profiles, interviews, and essays from women—including Vera Wang, Laura Ingalls Wilder , Julia Child, Cheryl Strayed , and many more—who've found creative fulfillment and accomplished great things in the second half of their lives are lavishly illustrated and hand-lettered in Congdon's signature style.

Debuted in April 2016 and published by Chronicle Books, The Joy of Swimming: A Celebration of Our Love for Getting in the Water, celebrates swimming through inspirational hand lettered quotes, watercolor portraits of swimmers paired with real personal swimming stories, and illustrated collections of swimming objects such and traditional pool signs, bathing suits through history. The book also includes a foreword written by Lynne Cox , an American long-distance open-water swimmer and writer.

Lisa has given many talks, speeches and public lectures over the years. Notable speaking engagements include the Minneapolis College of Design Commencement address (2016) and Lisa was a keynote speaker at HOW Design Live in 2017.

Published in August 2015 by Chronicle Books, and similar to here prior book Whatever You Are, Be A Good One, Fortune Favors the Brave features 100 illustrated and hand-lettered quotations themed on courage, bravery, authenticity, and being yourself.

Lisa has participated in numerous artist residencies. Recent residencies of note include Summit Powder Mountain (2015) and Fullerton College (2018).

Published in April 2014 by Chronicle Books, Whatever You Are, Be a Good One is a collection of 100 timeless quotes from some of histories' most notable minds, all illustrated and hand-lettered by Lisa Congdon. Some of the quotes come from the likes of Albert Camus, Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, and Anais Nin.

Congdon also authored Art Inc. The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist which was published in August 2014 by Chronicle Books. The book introduces information about creating and starting a creative business, as well as offers insight from other illustrators, designers and entrepreneurs. The book offers tools and information on how to "set actionable goals, diversify your income, manage your bookkeeping, copyright your work, promote with social media, build a standout website, exhibit with galleries, sell and price your work, license your art, acquire an agent, and more."

Congdon grew up in upstate New York and Northern California. She married her partner Clay Lauren Walsh on June 1, 2013.

The book began when Congdon wanted to incorporate more hand-lettering into her practice, which she started to do by creating her "365 Days of Hand Lettering Project" on her blog over the course of 2012. The project evolved from drawing individual letters to full quotes. Over time, after Congdon had shared these images, she learned that readers found that the quotes had "...comforted them in times of darkness or reminded them to approach a challenge in a new way." From there, the focus of the book became a celebration of great thinkers as well as a way of sharing their words with a larger community.

Notable gallery (group and solo) shows include participation at the Dorothy Saxe Invitational Exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco, 2012), Museum of Design (Atlanta, 2017), Bedford Gallery (Walnut Creek, CA, 2013, 2014), and Fullerton College in 2018.

A Collection A Day was published as a printed book in 2011 by UPPERCASE magazine.

Congdon started a blog called A Collection A Day, which was started in January 2010. Over the course of a year, Congdon posted a collection a day of various items she has acquired. According to Congdon, the collections were assembled from "flea markets, thrift stores, junk shops, garage sales, giveaway piles and family attics." The collections featured are often everyday objects such as 14 mid-century napkin rings (day 113) or eight old pencil sharpeners for Day 78).

Lisa Congdon (born 1968) is a fine artist, author and illustrator who is known for her colorful abstract paintings, intricate line drawings, pattern design and hand lettering. She currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon, and works for clients around the world such as the MoMA, Harvard University, Martha Stewart Living, REI, and Chronicle Books. Congdon is the author of several books, including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist; Whatever You Are, Be a Good One; Twenty Ways to Draw a Tulip; Fortune Favors the Brave; The Joy of Swimming; A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives; and A Collection A Day. She has also illustrated six coloring books for adults as part of her Just Add Color series. Lisa teaches numerous online courses on platforms Creativebug, Skillshare and Creativelive. Lisa was also named one of 40 Women Over 40 to Watch in 2015 and she is featured in the 2017 book, 200 Women Who Will Change the Way you See the World. Notable books adorned by Lisa’s illustrations include Broad Strokes (Chronicle Books, 2017) and Tender Buttons, by Gertrude Stein (Chronicle Books, 2013).

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