We were lucky to catch up with Lisbeth Cort recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lisbeth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Horrified and feeling completely helpless by the atrocity of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I could not sit by and just watch that war half a world away. I don’t paint in response to politics or events happening around the world, focusing instead on the world that is my home. Until then I hadn’t used my art to support a cause important to me. However, now I had to do something. I started painting papers and collaging sunflowers.
Why Sunflowers? They are the national flower of Ukraine. I read that when the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the new nation of Ukraine held the third-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. In 1996, Ukraine committed to total nuclear disarmament. To honor that commitment, representatives from the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia planted sunflowers in the locations where there had previously been nuclear missile silos. Not only are these bright flowers symbols of optimism, they are one of several plants that are “hyperaccumulators” and they accumulate radioactive metals from the soil. Before the Russian invasion two years ago, Ukraine had the highest production volume of sunflower seeds of any country in the world.
So after two weeks of painting and collaging almost non-stop, I’d created 9 new sunflower collages in varied styles. I pulled out a couple of past works of sunflowers and issued prints of these for the first time. Marketing this special release through my e-news and social media, the originals sold out in minutes. Ultimately 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the 9 new collages and 100% of the profit from the sale of the new sunflower prints, were donated to two vetted charities – Global Empowerment Mission and World Central Kitchen, both on the ground directly helping Ukrainian citizens. Total Donated: $2,666.00
I discovered the power of my art to help make a tangible difference in lives of Ukrainians who just want what we all want – to live safely and peacefully in their homes and love their families. This was also the beginning of my “art for good” commitment to regularly donate pieces or paint special releases to raise funds for work that makes the world better.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up in the late 60’s-early 70’s in Nashville, a product of creative parents (my dad was a freelance writer and photographer; my mom a teacher who always had a craft project going at home). They were involved in civil rights and what we now term social justice. They instilled in me values of equality, working to make the world a more just place for all, and a creative spirit. I sketched, did crafts and even was a camp crafts counselor growing up.
When it came time to choose a career heading into college, I wanted to be an architect but my mom told me I wasn’t good enough in math and hadn’t taken enough art classes to do that (unfortunate advice). So after majoring in history, I went on to get a Masters degree in historic preservation, focusing on architectural history, preserving historic buildings, and revitalizing historic neighborhoods/downtowns. From my early 20s through my late 50s, I enjoyed a career managing and staffing non-profit historic preservation and later arts organizations across the country, always around creative, design-focused people who valued our heritage and were active in saving it.
Continuously around beautiful architectural design and traveling extensively in both the US and internationally, my real art journey didn’t begin until 2010 when I started sketching again, this time with friends in the Whidbey Island Sketchers and later the Anacortes Sketchers. This was the time when the international Urban Sketchers movement was started by an artist in Seattle. I sketched on-site using ink and ending with casual watercolor washes. Soon I started filling travel sketchbooks, my frequent international trips enhanced by capturing travel memories and observations with ink and paint. I rediscovered my love of art.
Life however came to a jolting halt with the sudden death of my fabulous husband at 60. After living on magical Whidbey Island north of Seattle for 15 years, I eventually decided that life demanded a new start in a different place. When deciding where to move, finding a place that had an active and rich arts community was a top priority. This brought me to Santa Fe where I now live.
Through private study and numerous art courses, I developed my craft, moving first to fine art watercolor painting and expanding to use acrylics, wax pastels, gouache, traditional pastels and collage. Living in the colorful and historic city of Santa Fe provides endless subject matter for what has become my passion, creating contemporary fine art. I delight in layering colors and textures to present my personal vision of the geometric landscape, high desert flora, centuries-old buildings and unique elements of life in the Southwest – all in a joyful style. Energetic and saturated colors in my paintings capture the intensity of this region I call home.
Now, 14 years after starting to sketch again, my award-winning paintings have been featured in juried exhibitions, solo shows and galleries in New Mexico, Texas and Washington State. I am represented by Ahmyo River Gallery on Canyon Road, the heart of Santa Fe’s internationally-known art scene. In addition, 13 distinctive boutiques and museum shops – including the Georgia O’Keeffe, Museum of International Folk Art, New Mexico History Museum, and National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame shops – carry a selection of my art cards, prints and artisan goods.
I hadn’t intended to start an art business; it just evolved, honestly, once I got to Santa Fe. This unique city has a magical way of bringing out and fostering a creative spirit. My guiding light in my painting is making art that makes me happy and working with retail outlets where I like to shop or I believe in – compass points that keep me on track when choosing projects.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Having the gift of being able to paint or produce something beautiful that contributes to making people happy in the midst of incredibly scary, disheartening, and unsettled times. I know to some it sounds trite. I don’t have – or want to have – a wordy, esoteric artist statement. I just want to put something out into the world that makes it a better or kinder place. Simple as that.
In this world of creatives, I have met and get to interact with the most interesting people – people who share a love of travel, design, finding beauty, stopping to appreciate something they see or feel. My art has enabled me to see details, notice small things, and record vivid memories in a way that no photograph can. In the process it has been healing to me and it will hopefully continue to provide solace to my buyers and collectors.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Two lessons. I’m not sure these are lessons that I’ve unlearned as much as ones that I’ve chosen to ignore!
First, conventional wisdom in the art world is that to be a financially successful artist, you must develop and stick with one easily recognizable style in all your work. I suppose that if I was driven by money, I would try to adhere to this. Maybe. Heck, I have tried. But I find this incredibly limiting and paralyzing. Some months I love to work in my sketchbook, focusing on detailed drawings followed by watercolor washes. Other months I challenge myself by using acrylics and focusing on a very different world of abstraction and color-layering. I’m fortunate to be represented by a gallery co-owned by an artist who is a painter, silversmith, sculptor, and fiber artist – a woman who refuses to be limited to one style. I think this is rare. She carries an assortment of my acrylic landscape paintings, my Santa Fe watercolor sketches, and prints of my Southwest scenes – all executed in different styles.
The other lesson I ignore is “paint big because galleries want big works that sell for more money”. I only paint small works – 6″x6″ or 8″x8″; painting a 12″x12″ is big for me. I get bored with a piece when I try to paint bigger. The reality is that shows and galleries sell “small works” all the time and often in higher volume than one large painting. Painting smaller makes my art affordable to a wide range of people who might not be able to afford large gallery works. This is a value that’s important to me. I’ve also found that buyers like work that fits in smaller spaces in their home or in groups on a wall.
Neither of these lessons is bad advice. They may even be valid. Informed advice is worth listening to and considering. By choosing to ignore these two lessons, though, I have stayed true to myself, continue to stretch, and learn new techniques. Staying true to yourself vs. always following the advice of others, will keep you on the right track and ultimately that IS being successful, isn’t it?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.LisbethCort.com
- Instagram: @LisbethCort
- Facebook: @LisbethCortArt
