We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julia Leggent a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Julia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

From November 2018 to April 2022, I painted my birth control pill every day before I took it, creating 1227 paintings in total. The paintings were made on two-by-two-inch panels, with the background color fluctuating from green to pink as a record of my menstrual cycle. I started the project the day I was introduced to Peter Dreher’s Day By Day, Good Day, a forty-year-long series of paintings of his water glass, which he painted every third day. The idea of making a painting every day of essentially the same thing is fascinating and it is often something that surprises people. But, everyone has their routines; I had the routine of taking my birth control every day without fail since I was 16 and I wanted to draw more attention to that important part of my life. My grandmother had seven kids before the contraceptive pill was available to her, so I appreciate that I had access to the pill so early in my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am an artist and educator that lives in Lincoln, Nebraska and I make oil paintings and drawings that explore a range of personal to universal topics. These detailed works are done on a one-to-one scale to real life and are meant to draw the viewer in and bring some awareness to social, political, and feminine themes.

I was drawn to making art at an early age, it was an interest that was, luckily, celebrated by my parents. Therefore, when I wanted to go to art school, I was encouraged to do so. I received my BFA in painting from Fort Hays State University in 2017 and my MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2021. Since then, I have been working as an instructor and advisor for the University of Nebraska system and I have continued to make work and share my work in a number of solo, duo, and group shows.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I grew my audience by posting pictures of my work, sharing about myself and my work, and then getting lucky when certain people connected with my work and shared my posts. I do not have a huge audience on my social media, but I love and appreciate all the people that I have been connected with and it has done a lot for me in terms of motivation and selling my work.

My advice would be to take advantage of social media to share your work because social media continues to be such an important tool for getting people to look at, engage with, and think about your work. I need the reminder sometimes too, as I have definitely slowed down on my posting in recent months, but there is a balance and you have to take time for yourself too.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

All of the conversations I have had with different people who are able to relate to my work in some way. For example, I have made several paintings about my hair, as I have a fascination with how much time it takes to grow. A few of these paintings consist of ponytails that have been cut off from the rest of my hair. Because of these paintings, I have had many people tell me about what they do or have done with their hair after it has been cut from their bodies, including a story about someone’s mother rubbing the top of their ponytail until it was worn down into a crater, which I found very compelling and obviously still think about. Anyway, art helps us to understand each other and feel connected; it is extremely rewarding to be a part of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: julialeggent.art
• Instagram: juliaelise_art