Website: https://www.leighs.art
I am an emerging artist based in Florida, United States. I have always had a love of art and incorporated that love into a Fine Arts minor in my BA in English and in my MA in Literature. My art is strongly influenced by the Melancholic style, and I love creating pieces, especially large ones, that people can connect with, and interpret personally. It is thrilling to hear how something I have created affects the person studying it. Much of my inspiration comes from a very personal space. My daughter, Amanda, died on April 8, 2021, at the age of 32 and I have used this tremendously painful time to fully understand and incorporate how art is therapy. I have channeled many of my feelings and those of other grieving parents into my newest pieces to create what I hope are visions not only of pain, but also hope. My focus is to lose any boundaries I place on my creativity and to just create. A famous quote from a favorite artist, Edgar Degas has become my guiding mantra. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” is what I hope to bring to my creations. I hope to start a conversation and inspire others to share their grief and their journey so that the veil of invisibility surrounding grieving parents will be lifted and society to understand how to help parents who have lost part of their hearts to heal.