Lisa Conn

Lisa Conn is an artist and mom in Philadelphia. She loves making custom illustrations and creatures. Her worlds are colorful, childlike, and quirky. Her website is LisaConn.com and Instagram is @lisaconnartist. Email lisaconnartist@gmail.com. Artist statement:I love being a full time mother to a one year old and three year old- it has been the best and hardest thing I have ever done. Often I feel like an empty vessel, stomach muscles weakened where life once grew. So much of being a mother in the city feels like being on display, wide open, backbone suddenly exposed and forced to strengthen, breast always out to feed. And like a starfish whose limbs have been a dismantled, I must grow new arms that are mostly in service of others. I imagine the blood, sweat, and tears a shiny, glittering mess. In heavier moments I feel like a robot built to obey endless requests, struggling to make ends meet in a country that does not support growing families. In lighter moments I feel the exquisite beauty of connection to the family create and nurture. As I fight for time to serve the artist in me, I put the mother front and center—exposed, cut open, and yet a strong and vulnerable saint, with room to hold space for herself and her family.