Bold Interview 3: Leah Piken Kolidas

Hey, Bold Souls! This guest post is from the delightful Leah Piken Kolidas from Creative Every Day. Enjoy! Love Meg x o

Thanks for suggesting a guest post swap! I enjoyed learning more about you and your art in the process through your answers, which are posted over at my blog today!

How do you bridge the iconic, the dreamy and the feminine so beautifully?

Thank you, that’s a lovely compliment. I think the description you’ve used is part of the process in which I make art. I’m often inspired by images in dreams and even when I’m not, I work in a way that is intuitive. In other words, I let the work lead me, even if it seems a bit absurd. The imagery has meaning for me, meaning I don’t always even understand as it comes out. I think that’s what makes it dream-like. I’m not sure why there is a strong feminine aspect to my work, except that I’m often working through my own stuff through my art and that’s how it comes out.

Does being a parent impact on the subjects of your work, and on your artwork practice?

When I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband asked me if I thought I’d paint more imagery of children after having a baby. I didn’t think I would. The first way my art was influenced by my child was my desire to paint the moon, inspired by all the long, lonely nights I spent up with my little non-sleeper. Down the road, I did find myself drawing and painting more mother/daughter images. It makes sense because that is my life right now! I’m curious to see how my little boy, due next month, will influence my work!

I definitely have less time for making art these days, but I’m no less creative. My outlets have just shifted for the time-being. I still paint, but spend a lot of my creative energy on taking pictures, making projects with my daughter, singing and dancing with her, and so on. One of the most special things that happened in the last year was when I was about to embark on Art Every Day Month and told my 2.5 year old daughter about it. Her response was, “I want to do Art Every Day Month too!” I thought it might be hard to pull off, but it was a wonderful month of creating for us both. She’d often sit at one end of the table, while I sat at the other, and we’d both paint together. It was a really special time for both of us.

And vice versa: Does your creativity have any influence on your parenting style?

Absolutely! Children are inherently creative souls and Annabelle has an amazing imagination. A big part of my parenting style is encouraging her to express herself and exposing her to many different ways to do that, through movement, art, music, storytelling and so on.

How do you use your art to tell your own story?

I think that happens all on it’s own. I’m happiest when I’m creating in an intuitive way and that naturally leads to creating imagery related to what is happening with me in that moment.

Your Art Every Day Month participation event in November is well established now. What made you decide to start it, and what kinds of results, perhaps unexpected, have you discovered?

Nearly 13 years ago, I was inspired by the Nanowrimo process (National novel writing month). I decided I didn’t want to write a novel, but wanted to do something similar with art. I wanted to create something (or work on something in progress) every day for a month and share it on my blog (to help keep me accountable.) That’s how Art Every Day Month was born! I shared my process on my blog the first year and the following year, some people asked if they could join me. Each year more and more creators of all different kinds (we see drawing, painting, cooking, dancing, photography, jewelry making, art journaling, poetry writing, etc…) join in and it’s so inspiring. The way it grew was totally unexpected for me, but I love the community that develops each year and the boundless creative energy that comes from the process. It’s exciting!

Bio

Hello creative folks! I’m Leah Piken Kolidas. I’m an artist and creativity guide living near Boston, MA with my husband, 3 year old daughter and baby boy due in August. My blog, Creative Every Day is a place where I share my artwork and help connect other creative people through challenges like the year long Creative Every Day Challenge and the annual 30 day challenge in November, Art Every Day Month. Join us!