We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leah Poller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Leah, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
My path to the being self-realized has quite simply, taken a lifetime. It is amazing to look back 50 years and remember who I was, what I dreamed of…and look back again 20 years…and now, look at yesterday and take stock of what I did accomplish, and what I now know I want to accomplish in the remaining years. In a word…it is a breathtaking ride! I heartily recommend a seat belt…and shooting for the moon for your passions, as far-flung as they may seem.
I come from a family of entrepreneurial creatives: the die was cast watching my parents balance business, family and creativity: Dad was a great chef, Mom made all our clothes, décor was changed to match the seasons…it all seemed normal. For me, the choice was narrowed, against my personal desires: the educational system kicked in and the dichotomy began. In Middle school, I was separated from all the creatives and studies were limited to math, science and literature. Our teens (this was in the 1950’s!!) were awkward and tortured; there was no language to mediate our inner and outer feelings, we were the first test case of inculcation by TV and Hollywood standards.
But I couldn’t help but notice: all the students deemed intellectually challenged for the sciences were relegated to the arts…and they were amazingly happy! While we math students were miserable! Competitive. Aggressive. Judgmental. I yearned to experience an art- day in school which seemed so much more personal and so much less cookie cutter.
The yearning went on…through an early marriage, 3 children in 5 years,
starting and growing a real estate business…while my creative juices
simmered on a back burner with small spurts of interior decorating, cooking and baking, and sewing my kids’ clothes.
A dramatic divorce (hubby was a lawyer and it was the 70 ‘s when women
were asking for equality and got the short straw – no alimony, limited child support – after all, we said we wanted to be independent…except the world wasn’t yet designed for equal anything!) and so, with minimum means, I started from zero, with 3 minor children in tow.
Recycling myself for a career in language led me to a summer program in the South of France…and here is where the answer to this question became the fire in the belly! Such beauty! Such aesthetics! Such history! Every nerve in my body tingled to participate.
The summer stay turned into 23 years in Paris. From the get-go, I met practicing artists from the world over who welcomed me into their worlds.
attended classes at the most famous art school: The Beaux Arts. I shared my entrepreneurial skills and access to the US in exchange for valuable critiques of my work, access to a universe of art history, and support from world class professors who recognized my commitment long-term to the artist’s life.
And here is where the key to a lifetime of creativity was unlocked:
Unbeknownst to me, I was doing a 24/7 balancing act between my left brain and my right brain. Going from poetic, literary and visionary thinking to linear, mathematical, pragmatic thinking. Was I two people? With 2 different personalities? Opposing interests? Or could I bring a creative self to the pragmatic/linear and a productive, process driven self to the visual and creative? The road was rocky but not without a light at the end of the tunnel.
The answer was self-awareness, and mastery of the switching station that governs our left-brain/right brain functions. At the fork in the road, I took them BOTH!!: So, yes, I began this creative path at the ripe age of 30 and can say it is a path well chosen. While some may think the path narrows with age, I can say for me it has never been wider.
The takeaway, which truly describes my sense of self, is that a life in the arts offered me freedom, in every sense of the word. It began with my first breath, found its way after lots of trial and error, and has supported me in self-realization unflinchingly.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Looking back on a 50 year career in the arts is a lot clearer now than when I looked forward at the age of 30, divorced, with 3 children under 10 and no income, no college degree, and NO women’s lib. .My successful business automatically went to the ex – in those days woman barely had the right to a personal checking account! Trying hard to remember when I had last felt happy, appreciated, hopeful… it was when my parents provided the Honeymoon we didnt have and took us to Europe. From Miami Beach in the 60’s to Paris France – culture shock at its finest! So in a giant leap, I enrolled in a summer crash course as an interpreter (French/English) in the South of France. I took my kids with me… and 2 months became 23 years as we redefined our lives, our sense of self, and our destinies!
Quite naturally over the years I offered my language skills and my deeply felt experience as an expat to making the cultural exchange easier for others. And through it all, I used art – the result of classical training at the French Academy of Beaux Arts – to express my sense of humanity, and a visual language that anyone could access. Perhaps, in summation, communication is my KEY to a universe of discovery.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
As a mid career artist with a successful track record of exhibitions world wide, I have often been asked to share my experience in person with forums of aspiring creatives. What I learned…what I became…as an artist, was twofold: honesty and integrity were the wellsprings of my creative act. And freedom was the gift. Aspiring to be rich and famous is the least of the treasures. But learning to be your true authentic self with no-one limiting your creativity: THAT IS FREEDOM!!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Throughout my studies and my artistic practice I have never NOT had to hold down another job – one that put food on the table, paid the rent, and allowed me to circulate in an adventurous way. In the course of this I worked in film, book publishing, event organization, investment, property management. I curated over 140 exhibitions. I ran a gallery.
Time and time again, in a paternalistic world, with the patriarchy firmly in place, my work was e*pl*ited. My ideas were signed by the men I worked for…and the credit, the reward was always buried in someone else’s ego. The pivot: believing in myself. No longer needing a male “front.”..
I heard my brain say it: “Leah can e*pl*it Leah, she doesnt need a middle-man to take all the credit.”
Hard work paid off – to me, directly. And with it come a sense of my own destiny, a strength that I didn’t need to be Einstein all I needed was to go for my “A” game at every step.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leahpoller.com
- Instagram: #leahpollerart
- Linkedin: Leah Poller