Artists of Australia
Inspired by the colour and texture of the outdoors -
Inspired by the colour and texture of the outdoors -
Leisa lives in Lismore – once you walk through her gate you arrive in a little haven with the most productive sustainable garden I have ever seen. Simply over flowing with an incredible variety of fruit and vegetables Leisa’s back yard is brimming with ideas on how to create a garden to live off – then there is the fantastic Bonsai section, with more trees then I thought possible, grown in her handmade Bonsai pots - which are also works of art. One of the wonderful things I am finding in these home visits to artists is just how varied their skill bases are - most artists work in many mediums. Leisa has a varied skill base and works in a wide variety of mediums and sizes from life size bronzes down to emotive sculptures of women, bonsai pots and even rings. You can feel her strong passion for her message and self-expression in all that she creates. In her earlier years she created through making soft furnishings as well. I love how artists manage to bring their creativity into all sorts of other careers before they manage to find the time and space to focus just on their art. Does your garden influence your work – either in what you create or how it affects you? Having the garden definitely inspires me and makes me feel really peaceful. When I am out here it is like a barrier between the world out there and here where I create. I created most of the garden here when Covid hit and I wanted to create an oasis behind the house. When I left the Gold Coast I had already started to collect plants and to make pots for the bonsais. I moved down here and brought lots of them with me. I always had lots of vegetables and fruit trees up in Queensland so I had brought a lot of them that I had grafted. My parents had 8 acres in Mudgereeba so it was a bit of a shock to move down to suburbia. It was hard for my dog Gidget too - so we go running in the morning at about 4am before things get busy. That gives her the freedom she loves. She is a Smithfield Blue Heeler. I think having this garden affects me and it is integral now with the new range I am making of water features, bird baths, bird feeders. I use the leaves from the garden to press into the clay – like the Pumpkin or the Ginkgo Bilobo which is my favourite leaf of all. So it is integral in my art. No matter what happens out 'there' I can switch it all off here in the garden. I even have a little native bee hive here and they bring me a lot of joy watching them in the flowers I have planted for them. In my studio I have ensured all the windows open onto it. My dad had orchards and veggie gardens and my mum grew up on an apple orchard in Stanthorpe. Mom got into ornamentals and had bonsais from when I was I was really little, and I always wanted to grow them too. My mom was a potter too - she made traditional things through hand building and using a wheel. She is a teacher at Mudgereeba Potters now. In 2007 I was commissioned to make a life size horse for a client and it changed my life – it gave me enough money for a deposit for a house here in Lismore. I went to University to study Art back in 2007 here in Lismore at Southern Cross and was doing it part time and driving down three days a week. It was very hard and time consuming but I learnt a few very valuable things – like how to make moulds. I started to make the small figures that were all about dealing with emotional issues. I wanted to reproduce them using slip cast and in the holiday time I learnt how to make the moulds – and even the small figures which had seven pieces to them. There was a lecturer there called Liz Stoppes who was very generous and taught me so much in how to make moulds. Do you have a favourite corner in your garden? I think the most peaceful and joyous is in the bonsai area – they are like my babies. I often find it hard to decide which to take to the markets as they are all so individual – I sometimes need to hang onto some longer than others. I read the book ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ it goes back to the 1800’s when botanists started researching plants and how they react to stimuli and I started to look more intimately at my plants and now I treat them quite differently. I have a small She Oak out there and she is very special, and you can hug her and feel this great emotion. (see pic of it at top of blog) They had meters on the trees, and they could see them react when someone who loved them came near them. It really hurts me when I sell one to someone and I can tell they don’t actually value the tree but see it as an ornament and it might well not survive with them – they do need quite a bit of care of course. What is your favourite plant or flower? One plant I really love having in my vegetable garden is Borage. It is a herb but it has the most lovely blue flowers (see pic on left) and has great character with long stalks. The bees absolutely love it and the leaves are really hairy and it just has so much personality. They do grow like crazy, so I have to cut them back sometimes. It is such a beautiful plant. Do you have a favourite garden? I would have to say this one which is a special garden for me - having created it from nothing. I knew I wanted a sustainable garden and with planning I feel I have achieved just what I wanted. Plus it houses all my bonsai and potential plants for bonsai. How does the act of ‘making’ relate to your personality and who you are? When I was growing up I did my own thing and I loved the property we lived on. I loved the bush and I would forage and find things in the bush - maybe teeth from a dead animal or seed pods - and I would make little animals or people from them. It was self-expression and just wanting to create beautiful things from natural found objects. I loved creating things that tied into the natural environment. The figures I make were a way for me to deal with personal emotional things and a way to heal and it got things ‘out’ for me. I do get comments about the shapes and not everyone will ‘get’ what they are about. Some people even find it disturbing they don’t have arms and legs, but it is about what is on the inside not the outside. It is about the silent dialogue. Tell us about your career journey to date – did you always want to be an artist? I have a photo, I still remember it being taken, when I was about 5 and my dad had painted a board with chalk board paint for us to draw on. I had recently seen a seal and wanted to draw it. It was the first thing I drew, and dad was so impressed with it – he took a photo of me next to it and it made such an impression on me that dad was so excited. I got into ceramics because I did it at school where I studied art all the way through. I would have loved to go to Brisbane Art college - but it wasn’t possible - my parents weren’t keen to send me. So I studied Graphic Design and Fashion Design at Tafe, then I had a business called Equine Essentials. I rode a lot when we lived in the Gold Coast Hinterland and it was a very important part of my life. When the import tariffs changed overseas products came in and made it unfeasible to carry on. After that I worked for Laura Ashley and it was while there that I started making slip covers for customers and decided to start my business Leisa’s Creative Covers. I ran this for many years making custom made covers for all soft furnishings within the home. It was a one man show and really all consuming. Then mum and dad sold their property three years ago and I had found out that the products that we use within the business for upholstery products were having a very negative health effects on my body and I decided I had to stop. Could you talk us through your creative process? The most important thing I do is go to bed with a workbook – if I wake up at night I must get my ideas down. If I wake up and can’t sleep, I just get up and come to the studio so as not to waste the time. I then have the initial idea down on paper - so then I draw up a plan of action. From that I draw up sketches so I can think about preparing for the project what I might need or what I might already have to use for it. Then I do a lot of experimentation in order to see how best to make it work. I can often turn off my head and turn on my hands and they can lead me – sometimes it is best not to over think it and I just let my hands work intuitively from the subconscious. What has been your most crucial tool to grow your creative business? Self-discipline and motivation – full focus and not allowing any interruptions. I have been in galleries since about 2012 – starting with Gallery One on the Gold Coast – initially they asked if I had won awards and said go away and come back when you have. I worked hard and on a special project for the International Ceramics – I made a ‘Eleven Shades of Blue’ a ceramic dress made of many, many little pieces. I cast 4500 Australian shillings in porcelain in 11 shades of blue that went from deep indigo through to white -it is now in the permanent collection at Gold Coast. (See pic at bottom of blog of the snakeskin dress and bag made in a similar fashion) It took me ages to sew them to a silk dress slip I made – took me ages and I lost a lot of the casts as I had to drill a hole through them to sew on and lost about 15% of all of them along the way! I was using a jewellery drill but still lost a lot. It took lots of work to get the test runs and the colour worked out. I won the Award in 2012 and went back with this and other awards and they took my ‘ladies’ into their gallery. I have pieces in 19 Karen Gallery on the Gold Coast and that has worked well for me. Galleries can be very demanding – even down to insisting on the colour that they think will ‘work better’ for the area. I have also had pieces in a Melbourne gallery, but it is expensive to ship. As you know you lose about 50% to Galleries and it is hard to make much from sales through them – these days I mainly sell from my website plus markets and Open Studio days. These days I get a lot more joy from bonsai pots and water features, bird feeders and bird baths – I know they will bring a lot of joy in the garden and help wildlife. What has been the most challenging lesson learnt since you started your art? Dealing with galleries - and I guess people not connecting with your art. They might like them to put in their home but just don’t connect with the concept and meaning. I find that hard as I care so much for each piece I make. What’s been the best thing that has happened to you since you started? Winning the International Ceramic award – but even better than that was getting the commission to create the Bronze life size horse in 2007. He was designed to be jumping out of the water and I had a thoroughbred that I based him on. I had a workbook and did all the plans I wanted to make all the moulds and send them to the foundry. The person who commissioned it wanted to build me a foundry, but I said it is too big a job – there were 39 separate pieces from the mould that had to be welded together over a stainless-steel frame – huge job. I had to teach myself about making the moulds. I had only made tiny bronzes up till then – these were old clients of mine and they just asked if I could do this for them. They loved the Fountain of Apollo in the Palace of Versailles and wanted something similar – I never doubted myself that I could create a horse in the same way – I knew I would find the way. We decided to start with one horse, and it ended up as just the one in the end, but it was amazing. (see pic at bottom in gallery) I am very proud of that sculpture. What are your top tips for a great garden? Work with the space you have and where the best sun is but create a haven for yourself. I love having designed a sustainable garden that feeds me as well as being great for the bees and birds – so plan it well and feed it well Do you have any projects coming up you would like to talk about? I don’t have any exhibitions coming up but I have the Open Studios in November and December which is an important time of the year for me and I will have a lot of work on display this year - it is part of the Open Studio Trail on weekends of 28/29 November and 5/6 December – website info http://www.os-bbb.com/ You can find me at the Carboot markets in Lismore. My work can also be seen on my website www.leisarussell.com.au I am also always happy to chat to anyone about a commission
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5/8/2023 09:31:12 pm
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Kay KnightsI am an Australian artist who is crazy about her garden and I'm inspired by the colours and contrasts in my backyard. I truly believe that Gardening is Art - I believe that many Artists are similarly inspired in their gardens. This Blog is for me to go and meet some of them and share their gardens and art. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |