Welcome to a special Mother's Day Issue! Meet Lisa Goesling, mother, artist and overall extraordinary human being. This is an extra special blog post. For the first time in "The Future Is Ok" history, everything you are about to read is true (mostly). Lisa is such a baller (sorry Mom, I know you hate that word...) that no made up story could be more interesting than one of her many real anecdotes. So without further ado, Lisa's legit life.
1. Lisa came from a traditional family in which law and medicine were the assumed career paths. (Sidenote: when I say traditional, I mean as traditional as a family of the midwest's mahjong queen and the casual singing pal of Danny Thomas can be). Lis, being the rebel she is, decided at the young age of 6 that law wasn't for her. She dove headfirst into her art career, selling homemade coloring books to the neighborhood kids. After years of collecting her friends' allowances, she set off to the big city to train at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago along with many other institutions and immediately took the art world by storm. These days she can be found perusing the gallery scene with the great Susan Aurinko, residing in the artist homes of Key West and showing at the prestigious Zhou B Art Center. Basically, she is real life famous.
2. That "traditional family" mentioned previously was not only one of singing and tiles, but also highly productive dog training. Sheba, Lisa's German Shepherd and number one bestie, was the best student of the family's impressive teaching techniques. Sheba brought in the newspaper each morning, ate strictly kosher dog treats, and carried her own leash on their daily walks so as to allow Lisa to photograph the surrounding flowers.
3. As if being a distinguished artist and dog best friend wasn't enough, Lisa is also the poster child for incredible mothering. Through her years of residency at the Merchandise Mart, she always extended an invitation to join. She would etch the most ephemeral florals while I sat on the floor drawing long legged people in very expensive clothing. About once a week I would look up from the floor and ask to venture out for a field trip, code for "can we please go look at the pretty lights again?" Before I could finish my sentence, we were at the entrance of Lightology, Artemide or Luminaire, examining the beautiful fixtures. It should be noted that these lights did not change often enough to merit weekly visits, but being the amazingly accommodating mom she is, she would never turn me down.
Now for a look at her stunning artwork and our beautiful clothes.
Piece: Queen Anns Lace by Lisa Goesling
Piece: Spontaneous Combustion by Lisa Goesling
Piece: Inside of Iris by Lisa Goesling
Left to right: Chanel, Chanel
Light: Tolomeo by Artemide
Left to right: Fontana Total Black Table Lamp by FontanaArte, Soho Table Lamp by Venini, Matheny Suspension by Delightfull, 353 Table Lamp by Le Klint, Cornet Table Lamp by Estiluz, Atollo Table Lamp by Oluce Srl, AJ Table Lamp by Louis Poulsen