Lisa Congdon Art+Craft

it's all about tonight {and tomorrow night!}

Hello from New Hampshire, peeps!!

It is SO lovely here and SO hot, and Lisa and I are having a fantastic time. Yesterday we hung our show -- actually a cute boy hung our show while we supervised (SO NICE!!) -- and we are very pleased with how it looks.

For those of you who are interested, our work (sold individually, not as pairs) will be for sale here starting at 5 p.m. Eastern Time TODAY, Friday, July 18.

Here are some peeks. I will post more photos of pieces and tonight's opening in a day or two. {To give a little background, Lisa and I chose 14 historical pigments, research them on our own, without consulting each other, then each made work around them, again, without consulting each other, which now hang as pairs in the gallery}

Cobalt Blue

 

Realgar

 

Indigo

 

Tyrian Purple

As always, check my flickr for more photos!!

Last, but most certainly not least, if you are in the Los Angeles area, PLEASE check out Faythe Levine's fundraiser tomorrow night at Poketo Headquarters. I have this piece on auction, and there will be many other amazing pieces of art available tomorrow night too at the event. Please support HANDMADE NATION! I wish I could be there!!! Good luck, Faythe! Love you and I am there in spirit!

Pigmentary Portraits

Hello friends!!

Wow, what a fantastic weekend! Julia and Caitlin's show at Rare Device, Renegade, Faythe in town and staying with me for four whole days, friends, parties, good food, hugs. Good stuff.

Currently packing and getting everything together for my trip to New Hampshire and Maine with Ms. Lisa. We are going for the opening of our joint show at artstream Gallery. It opens Friday night and if you leave near New Hampshire, we really hope you will come out for the opening party! You can see all of my pieces here. My work and Lisa's work will be for sale in the artstream online shop in the next few days and we will keep you posted.

Pigmentary Portraits opens Friday, July 18. The party will go from 5-7 p.m. Please come by!

Above are Lisa's and my Indian Yellow pieces.

We have not seen each other's work yet in except photos and we are both so excited to get there to hang it all. I will try to post some photos of the opening and the work hung together this weekend!

After the opening, we go to Portland Maine to visit some dear friends and relax!

Until this weekend, ciao!

oh, hello!

Hi friends,

I've been a bit busy this past week!! Finishing work for my show with LIsa that opens Friday in New Hampshire, prepping for and hosting this show at Rena's and my store/gallery, hanging out with out of town guests (including Julia and Caitlin, and Caitlin's sister Sian) in town for aforementioned show and Renegade. It's been so much fun and it's only Saturday morning, which means I still have two more days of good stuff. On the agenda for today? Renegade!! Then more good times with more friends visiting from round this fine land, including my very own house guest and good pal, Faythe.

So off I go to get ready for my day. I hope you enjoy yours. I leave you with another piece for my upcoming show, Realgar. It's gouache on masonite, 12x16 inches. This and all my pieces will be available online in a few days. I will keep you posted. Have a great day!

 

RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR

Hello friends,
There is going to be an amazing event this weekend at Fort Mason and I urge you to get out there and take a look, buy, support. It's the Renegade Craft Fair, which originated in Chicago and then NY--and now it's here in SF. I have several friends who are participating (sadly, I am not, as I did not have the time this year to get anything together) and other crafters and artists are coming from all over the country to show and sell their work. I will be there both days hanging out and supporting my pals who are selling.

Here is some more detailed info:

This year's event will be held Saturday and Sunday July 12 + 13 from 11am - 7pm at Fort Mason's Festival Pavilion.

Check out the Vendor List to get a sneak peek at all the craftsters who will be showing off and selling their wares. Over 150 amazing talents are coming from all over the country to participate.

PLUS, astounding circus punk marching band MUCCA PAZZA will be giving a special live performance on Sunday at 2pm! Be sure to stay and check them out, as well as DJ's throughout the weekend.

This event is FREE to attend! Click here for directions

2 new $6 Goccos

You can find them in my shop.

pretty frickin' cool

Hello friends,

As many of you know I have been a swimmer for most of my life. I "retired" two years ago from competitive masters swimming after 11 years and after winning a satisfying 6 gold medals at the 2006 Gay Games. Tonight I had the good fortune to have dinner at Chris and Stephen's---two good friends (and former teammates), who also have TEVO and taped the Swimming Olympic Trials happening this weekend in Nebraska. We watched them after dinner and the highlight was most certainly watching Dara Torres book her place in her fifth Olympics. Torres is 41 years old, a mom, and is totally amazing. She is the oldest female swimmer ever to make an Olympic team. Pretty frickin' cool.

I get pretty obsessed with the Olympics. Anyone who knows me knows that my world stops to watch all the swimming competitions. I will most certainly be rooting for Torres next month.

drowning in pigments

Hello friends,

As most of you know I am preparing for my joint show with Lisa Solomon which explores the origin and use of 14 historical pigments. I have finished work on 9 and have 5 more to go. I am really loving this project with LIsa (though neither of us has seen each other's work -- she may have seen bits of mine on flickr, but I have only seen one of hers); this was a big shift for me from painting whatever my heart desires to having an assignment with parameters. But I have loved it and have painted things a) that I never thought I could paint and b) have pushed myself further than I thought I could go. For example, Tuesday evening I sat down to paint some oysters for the pigment Gofun Shirayuki, a white Japanese pigment derived from the inside of an oyster shell. Literally, my first thought was: Argh, I am painting oysters? This painting is going to be so boring and uninspired. But I got really into it, and it turned out to be one of my favorites in the series so far. It's big too...16x16 inches. I am working with some metallic gouache right now and that is really making these paintings come alive. So, I leave you now with Gofun Shirayuki, as I am off today to paint some other pigments in my studio!

yo.

Hello friends.

I am still here. I have been spending most of my time holed up for many hours at a time painting in preparation for my show Pigmentary Portraits with Lisa Solomon, which opens July 18. I got a late start on this body of work and am working really hard to be done in time. Send me peaceful rays because I needs all the calm I can get to finish the last 6 pieces in the next 10 or so days in time to send them off. I might have to sneak a couple in my suitcase if I need to work up till the last minute...

I did manage to take two days off to go to Stinson Beach with some friends from Friday night to Sunday night. It was so so nice. I drew, Maris knitted and Sacha looked through her binoculars and told us about birds. Elizabeth, Toby, Allie and Josh cooked amazing food for us and beat us at Cranium. Our favorite activity was putting different hats on Wilfredo over the course of the weekend. I leave you with our favorite photo:

good stuff happens

Hello friends!

This year I was honored to be selected by the Poetry Foundation to illustrate this year's Ruth Lilly Pulitzer Prize Poem, The Rabbit, by the famous Gary Snyder. It was an amazing experience. Below you can see the final "broadside" which was letter-pressed with my illustration. There was a limited edition of 300 printed. It was too large for my scanner, so I had to photograph it...but if you click on it you can see it full size.

***

I also did a smaller piece for the invitation (below) to the gala event, where Snyder was honored. Participants received the broadside you see above as a token.

Good stuff.

field trip

Ready, set, go! We are going on a field trip to my friend Amy's studio in Portland Oregon! {I went earlier this month but you can come with me now...}. Enjoy!