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

Abby, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I grew up in an artistic household, my mom is an artist as well. She loved to make things out of clay and practice photography, so she nurtured my creative side since I was young. When I was in middle school I got really interested in drawing and decided at that time I wanted to be an artist, whatever that meant in my head at the time. I don’t think I really knew what it was going to be like to be an artist as an adult but I knew that no matter what I wanted to spend my life doing something creative and that I felt was authentic to me and this was the best way to make that goal happen.

Abby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m and artist and traveler who grew up in the south east USA. Nature and spirituality is the core inspiration for my work and spending time outside with the plants and animals is the basis for everything I create. My art lately has been an intentional process of taking these experiences in nature and translating them into images that glorify them and turn them into spiritual symbols. If human figures are present in my work it’s typically showing human interaction with nature or spirituality in some way.

As for the busisness side of things, I run an Instagram and small Etsy shop AbbyLedetStudio where I list my paintings for sale and post about my creative process/things that inspire me.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think asking what “society” can do is really asking what “people” can do, because in order to change society we have to change ourselves first, right? So what can we do as people, artist, humans, in order to best support a creative ecosystem.
I believe that having a loving, compassionate and uplifting mindset is the best thing we can do. Not only to increase creative growth but also increase a sense of community that we all so desperately need right now.
I think its easy for us in the age of social media to get caught up by other peoples success and let that bring us down. But just remember that other peoples success does not equal your failure. We must be proud and happy for other people in our communities who are showing art to the world and fostering positive connection and seeing them as someone to collaborate with and learn from rather than competition.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The freedom that creating art brings is like no other. Whether you’re a working artist or just doing it as a hobby, you have infinite freedom to bring something to life from your own vision. With this freedom, you can see who you are through the imagery you create and observe how it changes and grows with your life experiences and the stories you’re interested in telling. It really is a beautiful process.

Contact Info:

• Website: Abbyledetstudio.weeblysite.com
• Instagram: Abbyledetstudio
• Other: https://abbyledetstudio.etsy.com/