Artist’s Statement

My creative process feels more like spiritual discipline and exploration than an outward, goal-centered endeavor. I tune in to what is asked of me and do my best to serve what wants to come into form.

As for the earthly side of things, bulk trash pick-up is an exciting time for me to scour the sidewalks for discarded wood, the dirtier, older and funkier the better. I start by sitting with the wood for a bit and getting a feel for it, then I carve and burn to create shapes that feel natural for that particular piece of wood. I finger-paint with acrylic ink and then inlay stone, metal and glass.

I often incorporate personal or sacred objects into my pieces. While I make no attempt to make those objects stand out as such, I want my creations to have unique elements that are intriguing and meaningful. Finally, generous amounts of glitter and a finish that gives the pieces a glossy and sensual look.

Rarely do I know the name of a piece and its relationship to me until it’s finished. Sometimes my pieces are simple reflections of the world around me, sometimes they explore direct visual and thematic references to my experiences. I hope that the folks who are drawn to my artwork feel a sense of connection that brings them pleasure, inspiration or a reminder of one of their own life experiences.

Artist’s Bio

A mixed-media artist and native of Mesa, Arizona, Lisa Godo didn’t start exploring her creative capacities until she took some fine art classes in college as part of the requirements for Art History majors. She quickly learned that she had neither the patience nor the discipline needed to work in traditional art mediums. After changing majors from art history to fine art to psychology, she went on to graduate from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies.

After college, Godo moved to San Diego and while working as a web and graphic designer she started creating a body of work and became active in the local art scene, showing her artwork and curating art shows. She joined the women’s art group Grrrl Power and co-founded the Luna CoLab women’s art collective. Now a professional artist and curator living in Phoenix, Godo has both exhibited and curated art shows in Southern California and Arizona.

Never having been a paint-inside-the-lines kind of artist and with a mostly intuitive and messy creative process, Godo found mixed-media to be the perfect medium. Subverting tools and materials, finding a usefulness that is different than that which was intended, often contributes to the happy accidents that guide her current creative process. The down side of that is the large quantity of broken tools and containers with dried-up contents that are hidden in the back of her art studio closet.

Her use of organic materials juxtaposed with metal, glass and plastic serve as reference to the profound experiences of humans living in times of blossoming enlightenment and exponential technological growth alongside epic and often normalized experiences of loss, trauma, and disaster. Her art is immediately identifiable with its mix of organic beauty and sensuality combined with a hint at a profound underlying sadness and unease. She invites us to view the world as a deeply magical and exciting place, one in which we can exist peacefully, even amid the fear and confusion that plague so many of us.