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

Moe, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Learning how to be an artist is a never ending obstacle course. Not only the material skills and knowledge to become an artist but also being able to navigate the professional art world. I first started by taking out of school art classes at nine years old; beginning with drawing and moving on to both drawing and painting. I then became a commission artist at the age of ten which gave me many opportunities to paint murals and participate in local art competitions and fairs. However, despite being very involved in my hometown art community as a kid, and the art community I have now in Kansas City, I find that I prefer the quieter moments of learning and growing. Those moments in studio where I can reflect on my choices both artistically and professionally and learning to trust my intuition. Opportunities will come and go as a creative but it important to choose which opportunities you are not only excited about but also that align with your goals. With that being said, getting to the point of trusting yourself to make the best decisions for you is not always easy. Other creatives, mentors, and others are going to have opinions, even strong opinions, on how you should be doing your job. But it’s imperative to realize that that it is not your job to satisfy their expectations of what they think you should be doing but rather it is your job for you to be excited by what you are pursuing.

Moe, 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?

Hi! My name is Moe Leady I am an artist currently based in Kansas City. I have dealt with a wide range of topics and conversations in my work but my current focus is on the connection between people. Human interaction is something that I find fascinating not only for its mundaneness, but also how singular moments of interaction feel anything but mundane. I use colored pencil and acrylic paint to create figurative based works, primarily focusing on hands and how hands come together. Because I explore human feeling and connection, I want the viewer to be left with a lingering feeling afterwards. For example, those moments in our day that we fixate on right before we go to sleep, the moments we analyze so thoroughly we forget about anything else.

I have been told before my work is quiet, that it whispers, and although it took me a while to come around to that idea, I do enjoy the presence my work has now. I live my life in relative silence. I do not particularly like a lot of noise and I find it fitting that my work follows suit. because I like to surround myself with quiet I tend to live in my head and I enjoy that my work has the same quality of getting stuck in one’s imagination. This acceptance is what I am most proud of. For the first time in a long time I am enjoying the work I am producing because I am not trying to make it what it is not and what I am not.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Although this is controversial, I would not say my work has a particular mission. I want my work to linger with people, yes, but I more so just want to create an experience/feeling when someone views at my work. I think the greatest creative endeavors in history have allowed people to feel without restriction. So although I would not say I have a great message to unleash upon the world, I do want people to feel something, whether or not that feeling is positive, negative, or neutral is something almost completely out of my control. All of this being said, my work is about experience and connection and all I ask of the audience is to stay with the work long enough to feel an experience or connection.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

To be frank, I read a lot. I love stories and adventures. Reading has greatly impacted my work because I feel as though I gain a new experience every time I read a book. Although I cannot pinpoint a particular book and/or passage that has had significant impact on me, the combined power of all of the stories I have consumed has subtly shaped my work.

Now I know this question is more directed in terms of how this has shaped my business prowess, but the way in which I have pushed forward in my career has been focusing on my work and making sure I can experience my work in a positive light. Reading has done that for me. Reading has allowed me to concentrate and specify what I enjoy and what I do not and that in turn has allowed me to make work according to my own standards and rules and no one else’s.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.moeleady.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moeleady/

Image Credits
Moe Leady