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

Leigh, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Certainly not later! It would have been wonderful to have started this career sooner, but the timing was not right. I left my career at 40 to have a family. We have four children now by birth and adoption. Being present while your children are young is a gift that needs to be savored. I am grateful that I was able to do that. Also, we have had several health challenges that needed my attention, so I am happy I could be completely focused on the family during that time, but I kept drawing and painting as often as I could. It was a wonderful outlet for me to express myself. Honestly, I don’t know if I was ready to do this earlier than I did. It is a process and sharing your art is a very personal experience. No one can make art like you can, so it is a reflection of your thoughts and ideas. Rejection can be exponential when you look at it that way. It takes some art shows and events to toughen you up a little to the fact that is perfectly ok for people not to like your art. I have always known, but have come to appreciate that art is very subjective.

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.

Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I was the child of an architect and an educator. Faith and art were foundations of my upbringing. The inspiration to create art was intuitive from an early age, but a trip to Europe at the age of 13 inspired me to return to France for a year during college. It was the first professional art instruction that I received. After college I had to earn a living and I did not even consider art as an option. I had a 17 year career in Television media sales that ended in Atlanta. There I met my husband and we wanted to start a family as soon as possible. Marriage, birth, adoptions and health crises delayed, then fueled, my art practice. In 2007, I returned to art under the tutelage of Chris diDomizio. As I started to infuse cold wax into my process, I continued my studies with Lisa Pressman, Andrea Wedell and Nicholas Wilton.
Each painting is layered, textured and almost alive with energy and color. Like our soul, some strokes are easily added, while other are more difficult as they are scratched into the paint. The results are images that I hope reflect a harmony of scripture and our humanity.

We go through life at such a fast pace, often not noticing that there are glimpses of God all around us – in people we meet, a gesture, nature, even the person next to us. I try to capture those fleeting moments to remind myself of the beauty, quiet, and wisdom that God surrounds us with if we only stop to savor it.

I believe it is not the image we see before us in the mirror each day, but rather the sum of our history that makes us who we really are. This is reflected in my paintings, as I add many layers of paint, wax and sometimes collage to a piece before scraping and drawing on top of the image. Adding and taking away are elemental to my life and art – the final result is not beautiful in spite of the marks and scratches, but because of them … just like us.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My inspiration has always been my faith. I love art and I have a deep faith in God. My paintings reflect my personal journey. As I pray through the joys, successes, pain and some agony of life, I reflect the emotions I am feeling and the scripture I am reading into my artwork. During the pandemic, I found myself painting abstract images of people bowing or looking into the light of Jesus. I felt that God had stopped us all in our tracks to get our attention. He had something to say to us. Rather than distracting ourselves with Netflix or an abundance of hobbies, we needed to be quiet and give Him a chance to speak into our lives.
A couple of years later when my son and middle daughter were preparing for freshman year in college and my oldest daughter was preparing to move into her first apartment, our home was so hectic. That summer I did an enormous series on Psalm 23:1-3.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul.”
Still waters to me meant a lily pond. It was the most beautiful setting I could imagine being before the Lord. I started painting my series and then we had a trip to Paris where I was able to be at Musee de l’Orangerie where I could sit and stare at the enormous panels of Monet’s water lilies. How amazing and beautiful they are! When I returned back to my studio, I had renewed inspiration for completing my series.

In 2023 after a family tragedy, I could not paint. I had no focus, imagination or energy to create anything. As I was praying and asking for guidance from God, he gave me the verse in Matthew 6:26
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
During this time, my husband and I went to Italy where I found some unique handmade papers. Upon returning home, I started creating collage and mixed media paintings of birds. Waiting on the Lord to direct our paths is crucial.

I have continued to see my journey through life and faith appear on the panels I paint. Each verse that inspires a piece of my art is written on the back of the panel.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The entire creative process is amazing and I enjoy every stage for different reasons. However, the best part is when I can meet the people that buy my art. To connect with someone over an image is a meeting of the minds and souls. It is a special event and I find true joy in those moments.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.LeighKershnerFineArt.com
• Instagram: @LeighKershnerFineArt
• Facebook: @LeighKershnerFineArt
• Other: Urban Art Collective in Atlanta
  Marguerite’s on Dresden in Atlanta
  The Cathedral Bookstore at the Cathedral of St. Philip