We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Congdon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I never went to school for art or illustration, and I am, aside from a couple classes at the community level, entirely self taught. I think back now, and realize that practice played the most essential role in my development as an artist. When we are first starting out, we have an idea in our minds about what we want to make, or how we want our art to look. But our taste is always beyond our skills. Ira Glass calls this the “beginner gap’. When we show up to make stuff in the beginning, we get frustrated because, for the most part, what we make looks nothing like we want it to. Most people get so frustrated that they quit. But you can’t become good at something without showing up over and over to practice and get better. I remember feeling this way, annoyed I couldn’t make things perfectly and wanting to quit or, at least, move on to the next thing. At some point in my journey I realized that I just had to practice…a lot. It would take years for me to develop the style and skill I am known for now. I think patience and leaning into the monotony of practice are both really important skills! We think of art making skills as the most important, but I think a drive to improve coupled with discipline and patience are the most important skills. I realize now that learning your craft is not magic, it doesn’t happen overnight and it’s not something you are born with. It’s just a lot of work.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I didn’t grow up with any sense that I was artistic or that I had the potential to be an artist. In fact, becoming an artist was the furthest thing from my mind until I was in my early thirties. it wasn’t until I was an adult that I even began to have an interest in art or design. I was in a relationship for almost a decade with a graphic designer who was obsessed with art and that is where I was introduced to art and design – everything from and and design movements to design history to design icons. When that relationship ended, I was a bit lost and so I began taking art classes to explore art further and get my mind off the breakup. The thought at the time was never, “I want to be a professional artist or illustrator.” But I took to it and, eventually, once I got past the beginner phase and began to feel comfortable with color, composition and materials, I began making art almost every day at my house. From there I started to think about selling things I made here and there. 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 so hard at first! I was broke! I didn’t know what I was doing! But I felt a true sense of agency and excitement about my life that I had never felt before. And so I kept going, practicing, working on my skills and getting my work out into the world. Eventually things started happening for me. I signed with an agent. I began getting paid illustration work and gallery shows and selling things in my little shop. Fast forward to now, many years later, I have a team of two full time staff and five freelancers. I make commercial work with brands, create 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 just had my first museum exhibition! In some ways I feel like I am just getting started, and yet I am getting closer to the age when most people retire. It will be interesting to see where I end up in 10 years.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I spent my career before art working at an equity=focused education nonprofit, and so I was in the habit already of thinking about my mission and in doing purpose-driven work. When I transitioned to making art, it felt like natural to me to apply the same mission/purpose lens to my creative work. I have always been focused on social justice and mental health, so a lot of my work naturally became about those things. The mission of my company is to inspire authentic joy, learning and connection through colorful, graphic illustrations, compelling messages and real-life art-business education, all with a focus on social justice and radical inclusion.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I am definitely a people-pleaser! I think a lot of that has to do with my age. I grew up in a time and culture that expected women, in particular, to say yes to things even when they wanted to say no or weren’t interested or didn’t have the time. I also think it’s just part of my personality to want to please other people. We never talked about boundaries or putting yourself first like we do now. And so I spent most of my life until my early fifties, including in my career, saying yes to nearly every opportunity that came my way. In some ways, that may have contributed to the rapid success I experienced. I did it all! But eventually I completely burned out. And it took me a long time to get off the hamster wheel and untangle myself from that way of operating in the world. But I also realized that I was losing joy for making art and that I felt so burdened all of the time. I was miserable and exhausted! In the past two years, I made huge shifts. I work very normal hours now (in fact, I work only four days a week) and only take on projects that can fit into that schedule. I work hard to take care of myself and have a full life outside of work that also brings me joy and a sense of purpose. Having boundaries around my time requires having uncomfortable conversations, but they are so worth it. I feel a sense of peace now in my life and work .

Contact Info:

• Website: lisacongdon.com
• Instagram: @lisacongdon
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-congdon-a37b2a210/

Image Credits
Photos of me: Christopher Dibble (minus the one of me holding the print, that one no credit needed) Photo of my museum show exhibition: Francis Tatem, courtesy of Saint Mary’s College