Interview
Leigh Witherell
Leigh is an emerging artist here on the Space Coast and she has always had a love of art, so much so that she added a Fine Arts minor to her BA in English before going on to receive her MA in Literature. She relocated to Florida in 2018 with her husband, finding the perfect home with a studio for her artwork. Leighs’ art is strongly influenced by the Melancholic style. She loves creating pieces, especially large ones, that people can connect with, and she loves hearing other interpretations of her work. She says it is thrilling to hear how something she created affects the person studying it. Inspiration: Much of Leigh’s inspiration comes from a very personal space.
She has used her artistic endeavors to help her work through the devastation of losing her only daughter, Amanda, on April 8, 2021. Leigh has channeled many of the feelings that grieving parents feel into her newest pieces to create what she hopes are visions not only of pain, but also hope. Her favorite story to tell is of how her daughter would recall to her friends that her fondest childhood moments were spent creating art next to her mother. It is in her studio that Leigh feels most connected to her daughter. Mother and daughter were going to share space in her studio and create art together, but the universe had other plans. So, Leigh has decided to forge ahead in her daughter’s memory and create the visions they always planned together and this time they would be peers as Amanda was quite the artist on her own. Focus: Leigh’s focus has been to let loose of any boundaries she places on her creativity and to just create. A famous quote from one of her favorite artists, Edgar Degas has become her guiding mantra. She hopes that through her visions she will start a conversation and inspire others.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I have a Masters in English Literature with a minor in Fine Art and I was a college faculty member before moving to Florida. I have been painting and drawing my entire life, but I only started it as my business in 2021 after the death of my daughter. She was an artist as well and always wanted me to show my work publicly, but I was very private about it. To honor her, I submitted to a local art contest and was accepted and I started evolving from there. I began with the abstract form of fluid art, but quickly went back to my passion which is melancholic style art.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“My work comes from a very personal space, grief, pain and isolation. These themes run through almost every piece I create and I use interviews with people to gain emotional inspirations for the canvases. I have also begun to explore the world of non-heteronormative relationships, which is also very personal since my husband and I (we have been married 35 years) have a non-heteronormative relationship for the past 28 years. I believe inclusivity is what I focus on mostly, which fits both of these categories. Parents who lose children very quickly feel invisible because no one really knows what to say to us and people are careful from "reminding us" that our children are gone. As if we could ever forget that! In my newest endeavor, inclusivity plays a crucial role in that in the United States at this time, family structures that are outside of what conservative society considers the norm are very vilified. My hope is that these creations will shed light on both of these very delicate issues.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“My work is carefully and methodically planned out in advance. I find that if I sketch the canvas out in advance and many times there are half a dozen in my studio at a time, then I can focus on what my goal is. I am a big believer in using any form of technology that will help me stretch the boundaries of my work as well.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“I am not a big sketch book artist. I love to just look a blank canvas, the image I have imagined , and then sketch from there. I use acrylics simply because they are so forgiving and I can take more time with my work because they have a slower dry time on the pallet. I am pretty simple in that.”
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
What does your art mean to you?
“Emotion and connection. My art enables me to process the enormous grief I still feel and it gives me an outlet to see it, to be able to point to a canvas and say that was the day I felt... I know there are loftier things to say, but I am not that kind of an artist. I want people to connect with my art for their own reasons, not what I tell them. In my wildest dream, I envision a show in which so many people connect with the subjects I am showing that there is not a dry eye in the place. I guess that is lofty, but so be it.”
What’s your favorite artwork and why?
“I really don't have a favorite. In school I favored the Impressionist movement because I was drawn to the artists capturing the everyday moments in their lives. I think that is still what draws me, the every day moment.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I just had a solo exhibit in Madrid at Espacio Complice titled "Grief Flows" I have a piece in the Contemporary Portraits show at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts beginning Dec 1. I have published in Artist Talk magazine 5 times and been in their Times Square Display last June and again this coming year. I have been published in other publications and done many shows by this point. I completed an artist residency in Messajana Portugal this past May. That is where I completed the very big piece "We are the Story"”
Website: leighs.art
Instagram: @leighsartfl
