Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you reside and work currently? I currently live and work in Dallas, Texas where I was born and raised.

2-You were a psychotherapist before being an artist. What made you decide to paint?  I painted my first painting when I started dating my husband, JD Miller, Fourteen years ago. We would spend time in the studio painting on dates and I had a natural ability for it and it was actually an unexpected gift from the universe I did not receive until my early 30’s. My favorite pastime as a child was being creative in any way possible but I just never considered it to be a career path.

3-How would you describe Lea Fisher?  I would describe myself as a work in progress. I would like to think I am kind, generous and courageous person. I set high expectations for myself and sometimes become frustrated when I do not achieve them. I am a survivor of painful circumstance and a recipient of great generosity. Also, I would say, I am an extraordinarily lucky person who always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

4-Are you trying to send a message through your art or is it purely for inspiration?  It’s both. Most importantly, the message I am generally trying to send with my art is emotion and communicating we are all part of the human condition. Whether a painting is joyful, angry, sarcastic or sad the important thing to me is that the viewer recognize and identify with the emotion and the fact that we are all living the same human experience, no matter how euphoric or uncomfortable it may be. In essence, we’re all in this together, headed toward the same ultimate destination and none of us are walking this path alone. This is what I love about art: if it is good then it echoes something inside of us and facilitates a sense of connection.

5-Your work is very diverse, what is the reason behind that?  Plain and simply, I just cannot stand to do the same thing very many times in a row. As an artist I get great satisfaction in discovering new and different manifestations. There is nothing more stimulating to me than being in the studio and taking a left turn and discovering a whole new series.

6-What influences you as an artist?  So many people, places and experiences but fundamentally, I have been influenced by a school of art called Reflectionism, founded in 2001 by JD Miller, who is my husband, a masterful artist and co-owner of Samuel Lynne Galleries.  Reflectionism combines a philosophy of art and a style of painting that is grounded in Asian mindfulness meditation practice while utilizing the new thought philosophy, the law of attraction. This belief is based on the idea that people and their thoughts are both made from “pure energy”, and that through the process of “like energy attracting like energy” a person can improve their own life experience. I practice the law of attraction in my art by allowing the universe to speak through me, while my manifestation is reflected on canvas.

7-The future is _________?  The future is going to be exactly how it is supposed to be. Even if I obsess about the future and try to control outcomes, it will be perfect in it’s own right, regardless of my judgment of it. It is almost borderline entertaining how many imaginary future events I have worried about that never happened.

8-Do you remember the first piece of art that captured your imagination?  The first piece of art that captured my imagination was an abstract painting that was recognizably derivative of Picasso’s early 20th-century Cubism Movement and hung in my grandparent’s dining room while I was growing up. I don’t know the artist’s name but I do know he was the best man in their wedding.  Both of my grandparents are gone now but the painting is still in the family and I see it from time to time.

9-Is there any reality behind the characters in your paintings or are they purely fantasy?  Oh yes, the characters and my paintings are real, specifically in relation to my self-portrait series that are actually “inner” self-portraits. They all represent either a time in my life or an emotional experience in the past. Obviously, they don’t embody my outer shell but pull from my inner experiences. I like to think of them as an autobiographical pictorial diary of my life.

10-How do you define success?  Professionally, I define success as being able to make a living as an artist. The industry is competitive so being a successful working artist and having people interested in my work is both an honor and a privilege. Personally, any day that I can be serene and happy and be surrounded by my friends, family and my little dog, I know that I’m leading a life well lived. In general, taking a shower in the morning with clean warm water is a mark of success and extreme privilege. It’s a luxury denied to many in this world and I reflect on this fact often with gratitude.

11-What is your least favorite part of the day?  This one is easy. The mornings! I have always been a night owl and could sleep till mid morning every day if it were practical. I have often envied morning people who get up, drink coffee, meditate, work out and solve all the world’s problems by 8:00 am.

12-How would you like to be seen as an artist years from now?  Years from now, I would like people to describe me and my art as brave. I hope people can see authenticity and vulnerability and see themselves in my work long after I am gone. I also think it would be fun to be remembered as a little bit quirky and even a little crazy.  It seems to me that all the greats from the past are remembered as a little off, broken or eccentric. The worst thing would be to be recalled as boring.

13-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Lee Krasner, Bharti Kerr and Paul Gauguin.

14-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Oil paint, painting knives and music.

15-Are you active on social media, if so how can one find you?
Instagram: LeaFisherArt