ARTS & EDUCATION
A Bright Future w ritten by SHERIL BE NNE T T TURNER photo g raphed by KRIS DECKER
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wenty-four-year-old artist and graphic designer Leah Nycole Edwards was born in Greer, South Carolina where she says she pretty much grew up doing art. “When I was about five, I did a drawing from sight and no one believed that I didn’t trace it until I kept drawing it bigger and bigger.” Her inspirations then were sticker and coloring books; her medium of choice, crayons or colored pencils. But her early childhood dabbling with cartoon characters and primary Crayola colors greatly influenced her sense of style, as well as sense of humor, evidenced today in her pop art-like acrylic paintings and drawings, and her unique made-to-order jug lamps. When Leah was seven, her father Sam, who currently works for BMW, and mother Gail, a teacher, moved the family to Brazil for three years to do mission work. While there, Leah and her three siblings—Samuel, Andrew, and Miriam—were home-schooled. “I remember Brazil as
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being really hot,” Leah says. “But the colors . . . you can see the influence when you look at some of my paintings.” When Leah returned to Greer and public middle school, she discovered acrylics, and while attending Riverside High School, and later the Fine Arts Institute in Greenville, she found a new inspiration for her art. “I love fashion and people in high school always thought I’d be a fashion designer,” Leah says. “A lot of times I’ll look through fashion magazines for inspiration. Art teachers sometimes shy away from using magazine pictures because it’s so flat, but I found by using the right colors you can bring that dimension out. I like to paint eyes, and women’s faces. It’s a fashion thing. You can do so much with the hair and the mouth—the overall expression. I also like contrasts. It makes you feel different; it’s a different statement.” Woven into some of her fashion art paintings, like her series on fishnet stockings, Leah uses fabrics to add texture and
ARTS & EDUCATION
dimension to the paintings. Leah also recently discovered something else about herself. “I came across some work I did during high school and no wonder my friends were looking at me like I was weird. I just didn’t care what people thought. I was very free. I think because of my time in Brazil and being home-schooled that I was definitely outside the box because I was never put in it. I can do realistic things with my art, but I enjoy being creative more. I want to push people to think outside the box and see what else is out there. Anyone can go to a zoo and see a parrot that looks just like that,” she says pointing to one of her few realistic paintings depicting a parrot,” but to take it another step and have swirls, or designs, or bursts that kind of flare—that makes it different, your own.” During her senior year in high school, Leah was accepted into the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa, Florida. “I always wanted to live in Tampa,” Leah admits. “My dad is from there and his side of the family lives there. I stayed with my aunt and started college the summer right after I graduated from high school in 2002. I studied year round and graduated with my associate’s degree in Graphic Design in 2003.” In order to pay off her student loans, though, Leah moved back to her parent’s home in Greer. It was there one Christmas season, a bolt of lightning, or light as the case may be, hit her. “A friend of mine was draping Christmas lights over a jug, then gluing real leaves and tissue paper over that,” Leah remembers. “I
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ARTS & EDUCATION
brought the idea home to my dad because I wanted to create some as Christmas presents for my family members. He said it wouldn’t take much to just drill a hole in the back, big enough to push the lights inside the jug.” Then Leah took the idea to the next level, designing unique patterns from translucent tissue paper, which she then glued onto donated wine, vodka, and margarita jugs. The lamps were an instant hit, not only with her family, but with the community. “At Greer’s Oktoberfest last year,” Leah says, “I brought some of my jug lamps to show. When it got dark and the jugs were lit up, people flocked to my booth because the effect at night was so amazing.” Since that time, Leah has had many requests for custom-made jugs such as a take-off of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, several team sports and school logo designs, and numerous holiday versions such as her popular snowman jug lamp. “The lamps are a good hook,” Leah says. “It’s something people haven’t usually seen before and it gets people’s attention if my paintings don’t speak to them.” When asked what advice she would give to other emerging artists, Leah replies, “Do what makes you happy. Express yourself and just find a way to let go and have it mean something personal to you. You have to be confident in yourself and find your own niche. For me, my art is a release. When I’m stressed out and really crazy, I know I haven’t painted in a while and I just go and paint or work on a jug.” Although Leah has sold many prints of her work, which include acrylics, markers, and drawings, she just recently sold one of her original paintings entitled Legs, as well as shipped her first commissioned international piece to Germany. She also paints murals, and has plans in the future to extend her fashion interest to include a line of original clothing or t-shirts. “When the time is right I know everything will fall in place,” Leah says. “It’s up to me to keep up my drive, keep pushing it.” Right now, surrounded by the glow of her beautiful jug lamps, this creative young artist’s future does indeed looks bright. For more information on Leah Nycole Edwards, please call her at (864) 430-1482, or visit her websites at www.artistleahnycole.com and www.myspace. com/artistleahnycole.
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