We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lania Sproles. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with LaNia below.

Hi LaNia, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I do feel like my work the issues I’ve run into with the work I create has been more about censorship. It’s unfortunate that still in this day and age that an artist can be penalized for creating work with nudity in it. I’ve had my censored on smaller scales but this past year was the first time I had it happen in a big way. I truly understand that my work isn’t for everyone, that is something I can respectfully accept. But when you are given an opportunity to showcase your work and then the opportunity gets threatened it can feel make you question things.

In late 2023, I was approached by St Kate curatorial staff to have a solo show in their main gallery mid July 2024. I was told that they had a nudity clause that was present but lax. Fast forward to early spring of 2024 I was being asked to hand over evidence of every single piece I was planning to include in my upcoming exhibition. I was told that there was a meeting amongst corporate staff where they had gone through my Instagram and had “questions” of what type of work I planned on including my solo show. After some back and forth emailing I was told that they couldn’t promise me that I could show what I truly desired. As a result I pulled out of my own show.

I think this was a very important moment for me in my ever developing career to not only affirm my own boundaries as an artist but also what treatment felt acceptable. It’s unfortunate that this happened but I am a lot clearer on what I’m willing to settle for as an artist and how to defend myself when needed.

LaNia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been drawing since I was a child and didn’t really start to lean into my role as a creative until high school. Frankly I’ve always known I wanted to be an artist but didn’t take it as seriously until I was 16. I attended an arts high school in Milwaukee and was floored by how much skilled my peers were. I naturally have maintained a pretty competitive spirit and wanted to master my craft and visual language once I got to this school.

I ended up going to college for fine art and studied Printmaking. Being out of college for the past 7 or so years now I have become more and more diverse in the way I create. Partially because of the access to certain resources dwindle when you leave school so it was something I had to adjust to fairly quick. In general I am grateful because I think I restricted myself quite a bit in the way I could describe my thoughts and feelings visually. I felt like I had to stick to a certain way of making but I began to embrace the change of my post grad life. I began experimenting with more color and more expressively immediate mediums like colored pencil, markers, gouache, etc. Then over time I began to thread all of my knowledge of printmaking, painting and drawing into my pieces. I mostly created printmaking based collages in school but discovered I could expand upon the various textures I could make integrating other mediums.

.I tattoo as well and began tattooing in 2020. I’ve always wanted to be a tattooer and was fascinated by the idea of customizing one’s body. I feel my philosophy behind that is similar to how I approach my studio based work; all catered to the ideas of appreciate indulging in one’s autonomy.

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

For me the most rewarding part about being an artist is having the ability to give myself visual cues into my subconscious landscape. I feel as though my practice allows me to gain better insight on who I am as a person. I also feel that it gives me the space to look at he relationships I have built in my life. I get to practice empathy with a sense of curiosity in those intimate moments I have in the studio. My practice has allowed me to look at the structures in my life objectively. I believe the more more I create the closer I get to my heart of hearts.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I feel as though it will always be hard to translate into words what it’s like to be an artist to non artists. There is a lot of rejection, hard work that doesn’t always even out later and overall it’s hard to maintain a steady practice in an ever changing world. I simply chose this path because I wanted to. There is more spiritual and emotional reward that comes with being able to create the work that you do. I have often expressed to friends and family that being a professional artist can feel like waiting to be drafted for a pro sports team. It’s more than something I do after I clock out of my retail job, it’s my everything. The wild thing about it is that you have to just keep going. There may never be a day where I get “discovered” or welcomed into the upper echelon of art society-I have to keep going for myself and for the simple fact that it keeps me genuinely happy. I don’t think there’s anything else that could replace that special connection I have with my studio practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laniasproles.com
• Instagram: laniasprolesartist & th0tquarius

Image Credits

photo 3: “Just one of those days”, gouache, flashe paint, colored pencil, metallic paper, 30x44in, 2024
photo 4: “Fancy Nia’s Amulet” Collage/installation (Flashe, metallic watercolor, adhesive glitter paper) 42x30in, 2023
photo 5: “Window View” chalk pastel, colored pencil, gouache, flashe paint, 30x22in, 2024

Photos 1 & 2–@th0tquarius tattoo instagram of mine (it’s a zero as the “O” not the letter!)