Lisa Shamhart Maughmer Spotlight
Lisa Shamhart Maughmer
Written by Mark Moore, April, 2026
Lisa’s dynamic artistry is one that is focused on advocacy for the earth and being in touch with the pure essence of nature.
Meaning is something that Lisa wrestled with in the beginning of her art career. “When I was trying to put a title to pieces that I had in the gallery that I didn't want to steer anybody to go down the path I was going down. Art for me in the moment of making. That is what fulfills me the most. So to try and tie a message to it seems so overwhelming to me.”
Lisa has always been a “huge proponent of taking care of the earth”. For a while her advocacy focused on the removal of plastic from everyday use: “I was a freak about plastic. I was just telling everybody, stop using plastic, get rid of plastic bags at the grocery store. It ties a little bit back to caring about nature. All it takes is a moment and just recognizing it.”
Do you feel that the current state of the world has pushed your focus further towards advocacy for the earth? “I think it's a respite for people to be able to come away from screens and find things like art that has been created by hands, and to get back to that and away from all of that noise.”
Lisa likes to take time to create work off the grid: “When I'm actually creating I'm not necessarily trying to paint exactly what I'm seeing so much as I'm feeling it for myself. Just maybe how the light is playing with the colors. And then hoping that translates into a work that I can put on the wall.”
The most difficult part about art for Lisa is, “trying to promote yourself. It's awkward anyway, to talk about yourself. To try and come off as feeling natural about it. And trying to get your foot in the door into different galleries. Have them give you a chance. This is a difficult time, I think, for artists right now, because of the lay of the land, and the economic situation. People aren't spending money on art right now. So all of those things are probably the most difficult part.”
Lisa started creating at a very young age. “My mom gave my brother and I paper plates. We would go out and just walk around in the woods and find pieces of moss and sticks and twigs, and we just created a little diorama desk on top of a paper plate. So I grew up making things.
Then for one period in time, I had a craft business going on that evolved into a retail store. I bought and sold antiques. But in the last 10 years, it's so much screen time for my Instagram, for the antique show Instagrams, all those have Facebook platforms. It's a lot. I just found myself going back to walking in the woods taking pictures of mundane little things that, to me, was just incredible. Watching ants on an ant hill. I could stare at it for hours. Now I'm putting it on paper. It's kind of come full circle, but it's really important for me right now, because we're doing so much consuming on this little phone instead of putting things out in the world. I actually think that we're going to see a huge movement in the next five years, of people coming back to making things and putting them out in the world. I hope we are, there are so many talented people out there, and they just need to do it. I think we're gonna see it.”
What is the importance of art in your life? “For me it's a huge respite from consuming. When I'm at our cabin, I'm standing in the woods. It's nothing formal, but for me, it re-centers everything. It is a place where I fall back in love with the world and with nature and let all of the negativity go. I think we kind of instilled that in all of our children too, although they've all taken a different path. Our youngest graduated from CCAD. Our oldest is a photographer. Our middle one likes to do computer gaming and designing. So it's funny how it all just kind of weaves out and attaches to everybody.”