Interview of Lisa Congdon by Freya Bennett
Hi Lisa, how are you and where are you in the world right now?
I am doing pretty well and I am in Portland, Oregon, USA.
You began your artistic journey in your 30s after a career in education. What was the pivotal moment that made you realise art could be more than just a hobby?
I was really lucky to hop on the artist-as-entrepreneur train back when not as many people were doing it as are doing it now in 2025. Establishing myself early on was really great in many regards, namely that I was able to stand out. But it was also sort of hard, because I didn’t have very many role models or much information about how to do it! So, it felt pretty scary, if I’m being honest. That said, I had a deep confidence that this is what I wanted to do, and a deep desire to make it work. And I went for it and figured it out as I went.
In your recent exhibition, The Way Through, you translated collage into painting during your recovery from knee surgeries. How did this process influence your creative expression and emotional healing?
In the final months of 2024, I underwent two knee replacement surgeries to correct severe osteoarthritis. During the long and painful recovery, I began keeping a daily sketchbook of collages. In the end, I created approximately 80 collages during my recovery. The ritual became a primary tool for navigating and surviving a dark time when I was otherwise bogged down by agonizing pain, physical therapy (which I described at the time as “torture”), depression and fatigue. My collages became the way through all of that. As an homage to the profound experience of healing, I transformed half of the collages into paintings for the exhibition, The Way Through. I was careful to mimic in the paintings the awkward cuts and slivers of negative space between papers, all the evidence of her hand. The show was a tribute to the power of art as medicine.
Your book A Glorious Freedom celebrates women embracing new chapters in life. What inspired you to focus on stories of women over 40, and what message do you hope readers take away?
I wrote that book over 10 years ago, and at the time I was in my mid/late forties. I was coming to terms with my own aging and my own sense of power/disempowerment in the world as a woman in midlife. I decided making a book about mid to late life woman was what I needed to do. And I wanted other women to be inspired, and to witness the achievements of women who had either started their careers later in life or reached the apex of their careers or achievements later in life – so that they might be inspired to do the same. So many women think that they need to have peaked by 35 and that turning 40 makes you old. I wanted to contribute to changing that narrative.
Having authored seven books, how does your approach to writing differ from your visual art, and how do the two mediums inform each other in your work?
I spent about 10 years writing books alongside making art and have recently taken a break for the past 6 years from writing. I am about to work on a book for the first time since 2019 and I have been thinking a lot about this question. Writing for me is very creative but requires a much more organized approach. Writing a book is a big endeavor, and you have to break it down into really small steps or it becomes really overwhelming in a way that making art doesn’t for me. So I do things like make spreadsheets where I break down the book into small parts and I invent small deadlines for myself to keep myself on track. I am not sure that one informs the other, but they do offer counterpoints for each other. For example, when I am working on a book, I see making art as a break from writing. And writing is a break from making art. I do like the diversity in what I am working on when I am working on a book.
Your work often blends bold design with activism. How do you balance aesthetic appeal with conveying meaningful messages in your art?
I do not see aesthetic appeal at odds with my messages. I really try to stay true to my visual language and simply convey messages of hope or resistance to oppression alongside my more joyful style. Somehow it works, and I think people appreciate seeing the combination of hard hitting messages with really whimsical illustrations and lettering.
You’ve collaborated with various clients and artists. How do you cultivate a sense of community and collaboration in your creative endeavors?
I have been really lucky to launch my career at a time when there are platforms for people to interact with my work so easily, I do not take for granted that my career, my audience and my community have grown at a time in history where it is so easy to share what you do with others. I post things, I host classes, I have events that I promote on social media, and people interact with all of those things. It’s really cool. I feel like my work would not be what it is without social media, nor would I have had the opportunities that I have had. I am so grateful for the community my work has fostered. Sometimes it feels overwhelming to continuously create content to foster collaboration and connection. I do think there is a downside to social media, because it can feel like pressure, or a sort of hamster wheel that is hard to step off of, even for short periods when you are running a business.
What new projects or themes are you exploring in your current work, and how do you envision your artistic journey evolving in the coming years?
Right now I am focusing on using my work as a way to support causes in the world I care about. Those range from issues around mental health, speaking out against oppressive policies, and even getting more people riding bikes, which I am really passionate about. Of course, I also love doing client work, especially when that work aligns with my values! I am lucky to work with some really wonderful clients. I try to take a bit of time every week to just have fun, too, and to make work that is new or interesting to me in some way, and that has no purpose attached to it.
