Conversations with Leah Kiser

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Kiser.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in St. Charles, Minnesota, a small town of about 3,000 residents. I was shy, there were few artistic opportunities, and I spent a lot of time as a kid daydreaming and teaching myself to draw.

At the suggestion of my high school art teacher, I attended the college he went to: Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I double majored in Philosophy and Fine Art. My artistic emphasis was on sculpture and drawing. I spent a semester in New York and apprenticed to Sculptors Romelo Del Dio and Lee Tribe. I went to many museums and performances in New York and frequented the Metropolitan Art Museum and the Art Students’ League. That experience made me want to create great things like those I witnessed in New York.

After college, I moved to Washington State with my future husband and continued to write, draw, and sculpt. I put on a solo show in La Connar, Washington in the spring of 2007. My husband and I moved to Arizona shortly after the show, and when my kids were born (2008 and 2011) I focused on caring for them and working full time but still made time for drawing. At this time, I practiced drawing animals from photos using colored pencils in a photo-realist style. In 2012, I began illustrating (with watercolor, pen, and ink) a book written by my brother Seth Ode called “Morgan the Ox.” After about a year of working a little each night (after a full day of work and putting my kids to bed) I self-published the book using funds raised on Kickstarter. All 500 hard covered copies were sold.

After the book, I kept going in an illustrative direction but wanted to paint larger more realistic paintings. One day, my daughter put a barbie tutu on a dinosaur toy. I did a little colored pencil drawing of it and then a few more. They got progressively larger and more expressive. Eventually, I switched from colored pencils to oil on canvas paintings to increase the size of my work more easily. I began showing the paintings at First Fridays in Phoenix to very receptive audiences. I got better at painting with practice and eventually started expanding my subject matter beyond dinosaurs in tutus and focusing on ideas and animals that made me laugh, and textures that looked beautiful to me. I also started getting admitted into more prestigious art fairs like the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale and having my prints included at local retail stores like Practical Art in Phoenix. In 2023, after about 9 years of painting, my second book “There Will Be Nonsense.” won the Best Indie Book Award for Illustration. It is a book of 30 of my paintings paired with silly philosophical questions. My paintings have also been included as finalists in domestic and international fine art competitions through the Art Renewal Center and the National Oil and Acrylic Painter’s Society, and included in publications like Fine Art Connoisseur and American Art Collector.

I continue to paint with a combination of imagination and realism. I also write philosophy and publish it on Medium.com. I hope to include some of my philosophical ponderings in future large scale narrative paintings that will include more human figures. I was accepted into the Laguna College of Art and Design MFA painting program and intend to focus on that objective when I enter the program in 2027.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to becoming an artist has not been easy. I struggle with a lot of self-doubt, and I’ve had to change course a lot. I grew up in a small town with few connections and I went to a small college with few connections in a time when colleges were encouraging mostly nonrepresentational or highly stylized artwork.

I later realized that I did not love what I was doing as a nonrepresentational sculptor, and I began to changed course and take control of my own path after I graduated. I eventually found what I liked: a medium (oil on canvas), subject matter (imaginative ideas), and a style (realism) that I was energized by, and I am fortunate that I’ve been able to connect with viewers who appreciate the resulting work.

I also have felt it necessary to forge my own path, because these paintings and the speed at which I work (while balancing my family responsibilities) don’t fit easily into the gallery scene – that I have found.

As an independent artist that isn’t yet represented by a gallery, I have had to use the “guess and check” technique a lot. Whether it’s the subject matter of my work, my artistic style, or advertising and sales, I often take risks because I don’t know a “right path” it’s just “find a way to make it work.” I’ve put time and money into many things that didn’t work, and I’ve had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way. Fortunately, I’ve found some success with showing my work at art festivals, selling prints, greeting cards, and originals, publishing my work in magazines, submitting my work to art competitions, and publishing my own books.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a fine art painter. I specialize in the style of Magical Realism or Imaginative Realism. I am known for painting imaginative subject matter (often involving animals) that is painted in a realistic style. I have a few subjects that people might remember me for: Dancing Dinosaurs, Flying Octopuses, Cats with feathers for fur, fish made of lace, birds with bodies made of seashells. I think the thing that I’m most proud of is the sensitivity with which I paint. I love delicate details, and even though a lot of my work is imaginative, there is also a lot of careful observation involved in its creation. I do my best, and I’m always trying to get better at rendering the imagery in a more lifelike way. The thing that sets me apart from others may be the combination of imagination and realism as well as the humor and joy that some of the work expresses. The paintings are painted in a serious way, but the subject matter does not feel serious.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Living for a long time with a lot of self-doubt, I’ve learned not to let my perceived shortcomings prevent me from trying to follow my passion. I give it a try, and even if I fail at first, I dissect what went wrong and try a different approach the next time. There is a lot to be learned by doing. Rarely are we perfect on our first attempts. And along those same lines, you don’t have to let gate keepers stand in your way. If they don’t let you in, you can try putting your vision directly out into the world and see how the world responds. I did this by self-publishing books, using Kickstarter, and bringing my artwork to art festivals rather than waiting for galleries and publishers to accept it.

Pricing:

• Originals ranging from $5,000-$35,000
• Small prints (~8×10 inch) for $50
• Large prints (~16 x 20 inch) for $120
• Shirts for $25
• Greeting Cards $7

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artifactfa.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artifactfineart/