Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leigh Witherell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Leigh, 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.

When my daughter died on April 8, 2021 I turned to my art to help me cope with the intense feelings that came with this day. My husband (her father) described it as “a seismic event” in our life and that’s right. I joined an online support group on Facebook for grieving parents who are not religious called Parents Grief Beyond Belief and in this group I discovered that we all share this sense of isolation and misunderstanding. People who love us want to help us, but they fail to understand (and I hope they never do) how much your life ends when you lose a child. There is no set time limit on grief and we just want to say our children’s names and we feel like we can’t. So “The Invisibility Project” was born from this commonality. I interviewed 20 parents, recorded, then during a residency in Portugal I painted a 5ft x 6ft canvas that is comprised of images inspired from those interviews. My first solo show “Grief Flows” had this canvas as its centerpiece. I’m now working on phase two which will be 20 individual compositions from those interviews. This project is personal and I hope it gives us a voice and helps those who see it understand how we are navigating a world we had no choice to be in.

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?

I was born in Western Texas and in a strange way that would later inspire my artistic voice. I hold a BA and an MA in Literature, along with a minor in Fine Art. I taught as a professor for many years, but now I am pursuing art full time.

Before becoming a professional artist I was a stay-at-home mom and finished my degrees while my children were in school. A favorite memory my daughter talked about was sitting with me and doing art while I did my art assignments. It was our move to Florida that prompted me to reevaluate my priorities and that cemented my identity as an artist. I am captivated by a figurative impressionistic style which allows me to reveal life’s deeper fabrics through figurative art, allowing free expression without rigid details.

Technology is integral to my process as it aids in composition development and reduces time away from the canvas. This approach has shaped my unique technique over years of experimentation. I feel that what sets my work apart is the integration of real-life emotions into my art. Each figure has a story to tell, and each canvas will speak differently to each observer.

An early Impressionist painter, Edgar Degas, once said “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” and this is something I take to heart as an artist. I believe that it is not my place to make others see the world as I see it, but instead to let my canvases take on a life of their own, thereby allowing the observer to ponder how what they are seeing integrates into their own life view. I am an active member of the Central Brevard Artist Association and IVAA (International Visual Artists Association) and my work has garnered numerous awards and features in publications like Artist Talk Magazine, Influx Magazine, Contemporary Art Curator and Novum Artis.

I hope my art sparks essential societal conversations by intertwining my beliefs with my creations. Critics have said that my work is strong, emotional, and provocative and have asserted that I am an artist of immense substance and depth, destined to leave a lasting impact on the contemporary art scene. I think I’ll have to wait and see.

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 think every artist struggles with imposter syndrome and it’s difficult for people outside of the arts to understand. What I hear most often is how wonderful it is to get to paint and create, how brave it is to do this. For me as an artist, there isn’t any other choice, I have to create. I have these feelings to work out, these ideas constantly in my head. But it is an isolating and quite often lonely solitary pursuit to be an artist and so many non-creatives would never see this.
But truthfully, I wouldn’t be anything else. Being an artist is being authentic. Art lets me speak in a way I never could in the world. I think every artist should create what they love and for me that is conversation through my canvas.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

It’s actually a little funny. I was slowly building an audience on Instagram, one post at a time, trying to figure out the stupid algorithm. My husband and I went to Sacramento to visit our son and daughter-in-law and at the airport during a layover my notifications started going crazy! It was just buzzing constantly and I was so surprised, we watched my follower count jump by thousands at a time! I wish I could say that I am some brilliant social media whiz, but truthfully I have no idea what happened. I am trying to figure out interactions, bots, etc…
What I can say is that it doesn’t matter. Unless your goal is to be social media famous (and mine is not) then you should use social media for exposure, nothing else. Art is subjective and the internet is brutal, that’s not a great combination. So just believe in what you’re doing and filter out the noise, but if you figure out that algorithm, please let me know.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leighs.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leighsartfl
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leighsartfl
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leigh-witherell

Image Credits

N/A