{"id":112326,"date":"2022-05-19T16:12:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T20:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=112326"},"modified":"2022-05-19T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T20:12:13","slug":"renowned-artist-and-illustrator-lisa-congdon-to-create-eastons-newest-mural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=112326","title":{"rendered":"Renowned Artist and Illustrator Lisa Congdon to Create Easton\u2019s Newest Mural"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: \u00a0<\/em>\u201cWe Gon Be Alright: A Tribute to Ad\u00e9 Hogue\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Easton, PA \u2013 MAY 19, 2022 <\/strong>\u2013 Starting next week, visitors to Easton can watch world-famous artist Lisa Congdon as she outlines, sketches and paints Easton\u2019s newest mural.<\/p>\n

It will be the fourth mural for Congdon, and mark the eighth mural for the Easton Murals project. Easton Murals is a collaboration between the nonprofit Greater Easton Development Partnership and Brick + Mortar Gallery.<\/p>\n

The vibrant, colorful mural \u201cWe Gon Be Alright: A Tribute to Ad\u00e9 Hogue\u201d will take shape on the Church Street side of the Easton Public Market, another GEDP program. Congdon will start on the mural on May 26 and work through the week, weather permitting. Congdon, an avid cyclist, is excited that her work will precede the Easton Twilight Criterium bike race, which will bring some of the world\u2019s fastest cyclists to Downtown Easton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love bikes and I love art – this just seemed like the perfect project,\u201d says Congdon.<\/p>\n

The internationally-known artist and illustrator\u2019s work has been featured by Target, Amazon, Google, Warby Parker, Method, REI and MoMA. Congdon says she\u2019s inspired by mid-century design and folk art, and loves to infuse her work with color, shapes, symbols and uplifting messages. When Congdon shared her mural design for Easton on Instagram a few weeks ago, close to 6,000 followers liked the image.<\/p>\n

Congdon will also be a special guest at Story & a Snack on May 26 at the Easton Public Market. Congdon will read \u201cRound,\u201d a book she illustrated, and talk about her mural (10-10:30 a.m. May 26, Easton Public Market Kids\u2019 Zone, free).<\/p>\n

Art is a second career for Congdon, who began working as an elementary school teacher in San Francisco. She felt a lot of creativity was missing from her life and began taking art classes. Though she never went to art school, she began sharing her designs on a blog in 2004 and opened an Etsy shop in 2007. By 2011 she was able to transition to being a full-time artist, and today makes her living creating illustrations, books and murals.<\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, Bill Strickland, cyclist-in-chief for Bicycling Magazine and a GEDP board member, reached out to Congdon to see if she\u2019d be interested in designing a mural for Easton. The plan was for Congdon and fellow artist Ad\u00e9 Hogue to each create separate but connected murals in Easton. Tragically a week after the two artists discussed the project with GEDP, Ad\u00e9 Hogue was killed in a bicycling accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cBicycling and art are powerful connectors between people, and expressions of life, exuberance, and freedom — qualities Ad\u00e9 also epitomized,\u201d Strickland says. \u201cHaving Lisa’s mural in what will be one of the best public spaces in Easton will be a wonderful reminder to all of us to cherish life and each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congdon\u2019s mural not only features the vivid colors and symbols she\u2019s known for but also honors her friend Ad\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis mural includes a phrase he was famous for saying and his lettering, embellished with my illustration and colors,\u201d Congdon says. \u201cHe, like me, liked to put positive messages out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed an appropriate phrase for everything we\u2019ve been through the last few years,\u201d Congdon says of the words \u2018We Gon Be Alright\u2019 that figure prominently in the mural. Congdon got permission from Ad\u00e9\u2019s agent to use his lettering in the mural.<\/p>\n

Congdon also wanted the mural to have a narrative and to tell Ad\u00e9\u2019s story. The eye, the hand and the pencil in the design symbolize the life of an artist, and the scissors reference the collages he liked to create. A bird flying over a bicycle \u201cfeels like him,\u201d Congdon adds.<\/p>\n

Congdon says it\u2019s her first visit to Easton, and she\u2019s excited to explore and ride her way through the city when she\u2019s not painting.<\/p>\n

The mural is the first in a series of planned additions to the Church Street side of Easton Public Market. Once the Fourth Street garage is complete, GEDP and the City of Easton will renovate the outdoor space between the garage and market to create a plaza. GEDP Executive Director Jared Mast says plans are to add shade structures and outdoor furnishings, thanks to funding from a Keystone Communities grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.<\/p>\n

ABOUT: GEDP is a volunteer-driven, nonprofit organization focused on Easton\u2019s economic well-being, historical integrity, programmatic development, vibrant culture and hospitality.<\/em> For more information, contact Executive Director Jared Mast at 610-250-2078 or <\/em>jared@eastonpartnership.org<\/em><\/a>. Visit us online at <\/em>e<\/em><\/a>astonpartnership.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Information Provided By:
\nKelly Huth
\nCommunications Coordinator
\nGreater Easton Development Partnership
\nhttps:\/\/eastonpartnership.org\/<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: \u00a0\u201cWe Gon Be Alright: A Tribute to Ad\u00e9 Hogue\u201d Easton, PA \u2013 MAY 19, 2022 \u2013 Starting next week, visitors to Easton can watch world-famous artist Lisa Congdon … Continue reading Renowned Artist and Illustrator Lisa Congdon to Create Easton\u2019s Newest Mural<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5718,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-easton","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ademural.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}