Lisa M. Gordon was born and raised in Southern California. Gordon earned a Bachelor’s degree in sculpture and photography from California State University in San Bernadino, and later earned her Master of Fine Arts from California State University, Fullerton. Her childhood was marked with a passion for horses, from playing with and drawing plastic models to riding and training them in her teenage years. She also watched as stable after stable was abandoned for parking lots and expanding development, which would later influence her work.
The pathos seen in Gordon's sculptures arose from the intrinsic love of caring for her horses and were focused with a new appreciation for life after a viral infection at the age of 24 had Gordon on life support and completely paralyzed. Her miraculous recovery was not taken for granted, and Gordon credits the experience for having focused her and showing that “life is too short to waste.”
The innate relationship between the casting process and her love of horses can be seen in her powerful, yet sensitive sculptures. Beside the actual pouring, every step of the work is done herself, from small, quick pieces to monumental-sized works, such as the 14-foot-tall Career Moves on permanent exhibition in Loveland, CO. She enjoys what she calls “sketches” of small bronze sculptures. Each sketch is part of a series of one-of-a-kind pieces, each produced without a mold. Just like a sketch, these pieces are relatively quick, allowing the artist to play with variations on themes. With the pieces she particularly likes, Gordon will produce a mold and small edition, or use them as maquettes for her larger works.
The work by Lisa Gordon has been featured in solo exhibitions and museum shows across the United States, including Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale in Denver, CO (2016 & 2017), Cowgirl Up at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, AZ (2006 & 2007), Heart of the West at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX (2005-2007), Originals at the Albuquerque Hall of Fame in Albuquerque, NM, and more.
“The Ann Korologos Gallery gives nuance to the idea of ‘Western art’, tapping into the American West and frontier culture as an inspiration for their collections. Focused on American artists working across various media from painting and photography to sculpture and print-making, Ann Korologos Gallery is an unmissable, distinctively Coloradan bulwark of the Rocky Mountains’ arts scene. Located outside of Aspen in the small town of Basalt, numerous artists featured at the gallery channel the town’s idyllic surroundings into their artistic vision, with particular reference to the town’s reputation as a mountain fishing Mecca.”