“I didn’t grow up with any sense that I was artistic or that I had the potential to be an artist, and really it wasn’t until I was an adult that I even began to have an interest in art or design.” That’s Lisa Congdon (she/her), fine artist, illustrator, and writer, proving that there’s no timeline on finding your niche. But once you see Lisa’s art (take another peek at today’s logo), you’ll be glad she decided to share her skills with the world.

We chatted with her to learn how she became an artist, where she gets her inspiration, and which of her pieces is her fave. And if you like her style as much as we do, you can take 20% off everything in her shop with the code NEWSETTE20. (She’s got some great holiday cards, BTW.)

How did you get into art?
My story is a bit different from many artists! I was in a relationship for almost a decade with a graphic designer who was obsessed with art and introduced me to not just art, but design with a capital D—everything from design movements to design history to design icons. And my journey really started there. It wasn’t until that relationship ended that I began taking art classes to get my mind off the breakup. At the time, my thought was never, “I want to be a professional artist or illustrator.” In fact, that idea never entered my mind. For the first few years, the painting and drawing classes I took were simply activities that gave me something interesting and challenging to do outside my regular job. But I took to it and, eventually, I began making art almost every day at my house. From there, I began to think about selling things here and there. The DIY movement of the early 2000’s was happening, and I became fully immersed in that, teaching myself also to quilt, make collage, and take photos with my new digital camera. I kept a blog where I chronicled my creative journey, and I joined Flickr and then Etsy and had tiny shows in tiny shops in San Francisco.

About five years into this adventure, I decided to leave my job and do what had never occurred to me in the beginning: I was going to try to do this thing full time. It was rough at first. I was broke! I didn’t have any clue what I was doing. But I felt a sense of agency and excitement about my life that I had never felt before. And so I kept going. Eventually things started happening for me. I began getting paid illustration work and gallery shows and selling things in my little shop.
 

How has your career changed from then until now?
Today, I have a team of two full-time staff and five freelancers. I make commercial work with brands, make my own personal work to show in galleries or publish in various ways, and design products for retail. I teach, do public speaking, write and illustrate books, produce a quarterly monograph, coach other artists, and travel a ton. I even had a podcast for a while. I’m 55 years old now, and so lately I’ve been paring down what I do so I can focus more on just enjoying my life, riding my bike, and spending time with my family.

What medium do you use for your work?
When I started out, I was mostly painting in gouache or acrylic paint and drawing with ink, pens, and pencil. Years later, in 2017, I discovered the iPad and digital drawing, using a program called Procreate and an Apple Pencil. I really fell in love with digital drawing for its ease and speed and the ability you have to edit, draw in layers, and control color. Now, most of my commercial work is rendered digitally on the iPad. I still love using what we call “analog” media like paint and colored pencils, and most of my fine art (personal, non-client) work is painted in acrylic. I also still love making collage from found and altered paper. Recently, I have been working with screen printers to make serigraph prints of my work. And I have a show currently at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art in California that includes 57 serigraph prints (screen prints).

Your work is very vibrant and often vocal. What inspires it?
I discovered art when I was coming out of a very dark time in my life, and was figuring out what mattered to me, discovering what brought me joy, and feeling a sense of power and agency that I’d never felt before. And my work has very much been about that transformation and continues to be about the intersection between what I love to draw (what I find beautiful or interesting) and my values and purpose. I am drawn to bright and unexpected color combinations, bold graphic shapes, and messages of relentless hope and radical joy. I am inspired by everything from traditional folk art to mid-century design to flora and fauna in the natural world. I am an avid cyclist and off-road bike racer, and I get some of my best ideas when I am in the woods riding my bike.
 

Are there artists you look to for inspiration?
My favorite artist of all time is the late Alexander Girard, who was a force in the mid-century design era. I am also a huge fan of the late Corita Kent, who also combined activism and messages of hope with her drawings. My current museum show in California is showcased next to her work, which has been a huge honor for me!If you had to choose one piece that’s your favorite, what would it be and why?
This is so difficult! I made a piece in 2016 called Protect the Vulnerable and it continues to be one of my most treasured pieces. It’s been used as a protest poster for many, and a version of it is in my current museum show. It says so much in so few words with the powerful image of the tiger.

Do you have any other exciting projects in the works?
One of the most exciting things to happen recently is that, due to popular demand, my museum show at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art has been extended till June of 2024. I spent most of the past year preparing for this exhibition, so this feels amazing! This coming year I’ll be focusing a lot of my energy on continuing to build my product line in my retail shop. We have a thriving online shop, a storefront in Portland, and a wholesale shop where retailers can buy our goods. We are continuing to make new paper products, new products for kids (an exciting addition), and design objects and housewares. Designing products is my latest passion!

Image of Lisa Congdon by Christopher Dibble.
Image from Lisa’s museum show by Francis Tatem, courtesy of Saint Mary’s College.