Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Jennings.
Hi Lisa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I think I was destined to become an artist long before I understood what that meant. I grew up in a creative family in upstate New York. My mother was an artist and teacher who worked in textiles, ceramics and all genres of art, and my father loved music and literature. As a child, I was always outside along side my mother collecting rocks, pieces of wood, feathers, fossils and anything else that caught my eye. Nature became my first studio, and in many ways, it still is.
My path as an artist wasn’t necessarily a straight one. Life, relationships, teaching, loss and healing have all shaped the work I make today. One of the greatest influences on my life was my late husband, Anton Weiss, an extraordinary abstract painter and sculptor. Anton taught me so much about color, composition, experimentation and, most importantly, how to truly see. We shared a life centered around art, and those years profoundly shaped me as both an artist and a person.
During the last seven years of Anton’s life, I became his caregiver. After his death in 2019, I had to rediscover who I was on my own. Art remained as part of that journey. It gave me a place to put grief, memory, beauty, curiosity and hope. Rather than making my world smaller, that period ultimately opened and stretched me further.
Today I’m a full-time mixed-media artist, sculptor, teaching artist and mentor. My work combines hand pigmented and printed papers, paint, wood, stone, found natural materials and sometimes metal. I’m still fascinated by many of the same things I collected as a little girl—only now they find their way into paintings, sculptures and assemblages.
Teaching has also become a very important part of my creative life. I teach mixed media, watercolor, printmaking and other creative explorations, mentor fellow artists, and lead workshops and retreats. I especially love helping people move beyond the fear of making something “wrong” and reconnect with curiosity, experimentation and play.
Looking back, I can see that all the chapters belong together. The child gathering stones and feathers, the woman learning beside another artist, the caregiver, the widow rebuilding her life, the teacher and mentor, and the artist I am today are all part of the same story.
At this stage of my life, I feel less interested in proving myself and much more interested in creating meaningful work, sharing what I’ve learned, staying curious and helping other people discover their own creative voice. Art has carried me through nearly every chapter of my life, and I’m still excited to see where it takes me next.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, but I think some of the most difficult chapters of my life have also shaped the artist and person I am today.
One of the greatest challenges was becoming a caregiver for my husband, artist Anton Weiss, during the last seven years of his life. Caring for someone you love while watching their health decline changes you profoundly. After Anton died in 2019, I found myself grieving not only the loss of my husband and best friend, but also trying to understand who I was after so many years of putting another person’s needs before my own. My parents were also part of my caregiving and their journey overlapped with my husband’s journey resulted in the death of all three of them within 6 years of one another.
Art became a lifeline. I returned to my studio with a different perspective and a deeper need to create. My work became less about making something beautiful and more about connection, healing, memory and finding meaning in the experiences we carry.
Like many working artists, I’ve also experienced the practical struggles of creating a sustainable life through art. There have been financial uncertainties, exhibitions that didn’t lead where I hoped, periods when sales were wonderful and others when they were very quiet. I’ve had to continually reinvent myself—artist, teacher, mentor, retreat leader and entrepreneur, while still protecting the part of me that simply needs to make art.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also learned that being an artist is not about arriving at some perfect destination. Life continues to change, evolve and in hopes so do I. There have been losses, disappointments, unexpected detours and plenty of moments when I’ve had to begin again.
But beginning again has become something I’m no longer afraid of. I’ve learned to trust my creativity, stay curious and keep moving forward. Some of the cracks and imperfections in my life have ultimately become part of the texture and weave of my work and I wouldn’t want to erase them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work lives somewhere between painting, sculpture, collage and storytelling. I call myself a mixed-media artist because I’ve never been very interested in staying within the boundaries of one material or one way of working. I use pigmented and printed papers, acrylic paint, wood, stone, branches, thread, metal and found objects—often combining materials that carry their own history and imperfections.
Nature has always been at the center of my work. I’m still that child who wants to pick up an interesting stone, piece of wood, feather or seed pod and bring it home. I’m fascinated by things that have been weathered, worn, layered and changed over time. Roots, birds, figures, hands, pods, flowers and other natural forms continually find their way into my work. There is often something primitive, spiritual and symbolic running beneath the surface.
I’m probably best known for my mixed-media paintings and sculptures that combine handmade and pigmented papers with natural materials. I love creating surfaces that feel as though they have been excavated rather than freshly made. I build, tear, cover, scrape, print, stitch and layer until the piece begins to reveal its own story. I rarely know exactly where a piece is going when I begin, and that sense of discovery is very important to me.
Teaching has become another extension of my artwork. I teach mixed media, watercolor, printmaking and sculpture, mentor artists, leading workshops and retreats. I’m less interested in teaching people how to make something exactly like mine and much more interested in helping them discover how they see! I want people to experiment, take risks, make mistakes, play and eventually recognize their own visual language.
What I’m most proud of is that I’ve built a creative life that extends beyond the walls of my studio. My work is in museums, corporate and private collections, which I’m deeply grateful for, but I’m equally proud when a student tells me they have found their creative voice again, or when an artist I mentor begins believing in their own work.
I think what sets me apart is the way I bring all of these things together, it’s not just my art but my life’s path and experiences. I don’t see painting, sculpture, teaching, mentoring, nature and life experience as separate pursuits. They continually feed one another.
At this point in my life, I’m also very aware of the importance of passing things forward. My late husband, Anton Weiss, did the same thing in passing on his knowledge. My own teachers and life experiences have given me other gifts. Now I feel a responsibility and joy in passing what I’ve learned on to other artists and art lovers while encouraging them to find their own path rather than follow mine.
Ultimately, I hope my work carries a sense of humanity, humility and connection to source. I want my artwork to feel timeless yet alive and to hold evidence of the hand that made it, reminding the viewer of their own connection to nature.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’ve often said that I’ve lived a life where miracles seem to happen, but I also believe that what we call “luck” is often a combination of timing, openness, hard work and being willing to recognize an opportunity when it appears.
I’ve certainly experienced both good luck and bad luck. There have been unexpected opportunities, people who came into my life at exactly the right moment, art sales when I truly needed them, wonderful teaching opportunities and connections that I could never have planned. I’m incredibly grateful for those moments.
But I’ve also experienced loss, financial uncertainty, caregiving, grief and times when the road ahead wasn’t clear at all. Those experiences taught me that I couldn’t always control what happened to me, but I could decide what I did with it. It’s all about an attitude of gratitude and looking at all the good I have.
Meeting my late husband, Anton Weiss, was one of those extraordinary turns of fate. Our life together changed me personally and artistically. Through him I learned an enormous amount about art, but also about resilience. Anton had survived tremendous hardship early in his life, yet he approached life with incredible passion. That had a profound influence on the way I learned to look at my own challenges.
In my business and creative life, I’ve learned that opportunity tends to find you more easily when you keep showing up. I’ve taught classes, opened my studio, exhibited my work, mentored artists, volunteered, said yes to opportunities that frightened me, and continued creating even during times when I wasn’t sure where any of it was leading.
I also believe strongly in generosity. Some of the best things that have happened in my career have grown from relationships and community rather than from carefully calculated business decisions. When you share what you know, support other artists and put something meaningful into the world, it has a way of circling back—although rarely in the way you expect.
So yes, I believe in luck. I believe in synchronicity and those mysterious moments when the right person, opportunity or idea arrives at just the right time. But I also believe you have to meet luck halfway. You have to keep working, stay curious, remain open and be willing to walk through the door when it opens.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lisajenningsarts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisajenningsart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisajenningsart/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisajenningsart/?isSelfProfile=true
