American artist Lisa Congdon is spreading queer joy with her beautiful illustrations.

Cover photo: Lisa Congdon, photo by Kimberley Hasselbrink (2019). Via Extraordinary Routines.

This article is part of my 30 Living Queer Artists Worth Celebrating in 2019 series. June is Pride Month, commemorating the international gay rights movement that began June 28th, 1969, with the Stonewall riots of New York. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the event. I’m celebrating all month long!

Vibrant Folk Illustration

Lisa Congdon is a American fine artist, illustrator, and author. She is known for her illustrations filled with inviting colors, organic shapes, and hand drawn lettering. Congdon’s patterns are populated by rainbows, animals, eyes, flowers, and everyday objects.

Congdon’s style is fun, bright, and radiant with positivity. Much of her work is particularly reminiscent of folk art, though Congdon draws inspiration from a variety of sources.

“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,” Congdon explains.

For a product line at the MoMA Design Store, Congdon was given access to research the Museum of Modern Art’s entire design collection. The MoMA is just one of Congdon’s long list of notable clients; she has also collaborated with Comme des Garçons and Airbnb. The Portland-based artist is in high demand.

Throughout the success, Congdon has stayed humble, noting, “You learn over time, even when you get these great client jobs, that a) sometimes they are hard work and b) they don’t necessarily make you a happier person or make your career any more or less significant.” Congdon finds joy in the process itself and sharing her work with others.

Late Start

Congdon began her art as an amateur. She graduated as a liberal arts major and then spent time as a teacher. Congdon began taking community drawing and painting classes after she experienced “a bit of a life crisis,” the end of a decade-long relationship. She recalls, “I had zero intention then of becoming a professional artist – or even of being an artist at all.”

The hobby became serious when Congdon began posting her work online. She says, “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.”

Congdon believes this late start has been the key to her success, explaining, “I think almost everything I do now I was not capable of at 25.” The ultimate lesson Congdon imparts is that all experience is valuable: “The good news is if you are going to change careers later in life or do something new, anything you've done before is going to contribute to you doing a better job at the new thing.”

Queer Joy

“Color evokes a mood, and my work is usually described as “happy” — which I think is often because of my color palette,” notes Congdon. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet: rainbows are Congdon’s most common motif, they can be found in nearly every illustration.

There is certainly an unbridled queer joy in Congdon’s work. She paints lips, cats, and positive affirmations like “this too shall pass,” “ever forward,” and “Begin anyhow,” her persona mantra.

That infectious happiness appears to be the hard-won result of a tumultuous journey. In a blog post, Congdon writes, “People have asked me over the years if I could wave a magic wand, would I want to be straight. I have always answered no, even back in the 1990’s when my own shame about being gay was at an all time high, when my own pain was most profound. I have never been able to imagine any other life but this, and I cannot imagine being anyone else but who I am. And I am so incredibly proud to be part of a community who has — arduously and lovingly —  fought for its rights, and the rights of future generations.”

Since Congdon’s life-changing break-up, she has found and married a new love. Congdon smiles as she says, “I found […] somebody who I want to spend the rest of my life with only a few years after I started making art time full time [and that] was probably not an accident.”

Future Artists

Lisa Congdon, now 51, is using her voice and experience to lift up future artists. She is featured on online classes like Creativebug and she has written multiple books including the popular The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist. Congdon tells aspiring creatives, “Keep sharing what you do. Be excited about it. Your excitement and passion will be contagious.”