Leila Rose Fanner and Night Starlight
South African artist, Leila Rose Fanner, shares her illustrations and paintings as we talk about her creative process and experience. Fanner’s family influences, a Mother who works as a painter and Father, a musician, provide us with a rich perspective on expression and what it means to be an artist.
Leila Rose Fanner in her studio in Ribeek-Kasteel, South Africa
KARDIA: Talk to us about your earliest memory of art making and creativity and how you took on “artist” as part of your identity.
LEILA ROSE FANNER: I was 4 years old and my grandmother fell in love with an abstract painting I had created that I called Árchway’. As our relationship was very strained even at that age, it was extra special that she loved it enough to have it framed and hung in her lounge. I think that may have had a bigger impact on my identity as an artist than I have realised.
K: Have your varied influences growing up with a single, artistic mother influenced your artwork in any way?
LRF: Well, yes, growing up with a single mother affects the language of my work in that it is predominantly feminine in outlook and focus. My mother was also a struggling artist with low self esteem and had no business sense – so I initially tried to run as far from the art world as I could (into corporate work) but eventually my need to express myself through art was stronger than the pull of money. As a reaction to seeing my mother taken advantage of and also having no fatherly love in a single parent home, I became very tough and aggressive in my early years and my art has become a counter-balance of gentleness and extreme femininity.
A Spirited Conversation
oil & ink on canvas, 2020
K: If you could share some advice for your younger artist self, what would you say?
LRF: Trust the process and keep checking and aligning yourself with your higher purpose. The journey will unfold as it is meant to — you just stay focused on the present and doing the best you can with what you have.
K: When you’re in the studio, what does your day look like? Do you have a specific routine?
LRF: My only routine is eating lunch and drinking a lot of sparkling lemon water or herbal tea. I have intentions of arriving at work at a sparrows fart, but it never happens. I do have the ability to work non-stop and fast when I need to and when I’m inspired. So I refuse to get stressed about how many hours I’m in my studio or working on one piece and instead I let the day show me how it wants to go. I am continuously monitoring myself to check that I am not allowing stress to drive me. Stress kills creativity.
So my routine is simply that I show up when I am ready to work and I have a prepared lunch and plenty water and tea to drink and then I work until the sun sets.
Liminal
oil & oil pastel on wood
K: What kinds of things bring inspiration to your life and work? What sparks joy in your heart?
LRF: Here’s my list: Nature in abundance. Spiritually uplifting stories and talks. Pastels and elegant lines. Mid century modernism. Anime movies. Really good abstract art. Beautiful architecture. Elaborate and mysterious, dreamy novels with a strong female lead.
In addition, every-day life. I am currently enjoying staying focused on the simplicity of the things I have around me daily and don't really ‘see’. Nature's wonders, my children's creativity, living foods, Africa's rich, earthy culture and music. Extreme feminine whimsy -- boldness in shapes and vivid colors. The romantic, stylized artistic expression of the Art Nouveau period. Anything new and anything antique. Both hold a fascination – the former because of its potential, the latter because of its history.
K: Who are some artists that you look up to or are in awe of? What about them or their work do you connect with the most?
LRF: Too many! From contemporary abstract artists to figurative artists and the Masters like Gauguin, Rousseau and Klimt. Dancers, and installation artisits, film makers etc etc.
What I connect with in each is very different and would result in an essay for each artist. Suffice it to say – it can be boiled down to their unique ability to hone a personal and recognizable creative language that one recognizes instantly, as well as masterful use of color and balancing detail with space.
K: What do you think is the greatest duty of an artist?
LRF: Be true to yourself, I guess. I don’t like the debates around this idea that artists and intellectuals alike get all wrapped up in.
K: What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve created so far? How did you come across the inspiration for them?
LRF: Souls Journey, A Spirited Conversation, Autumn. After Noon. I don’t come across inspiration. My paintings are sort of given to me by my imagination and fuelled by my philosophical view of life and personal history. I get flashes of fully formed paintings during walks, meditation or even in the middle of the night.
K: My favorite painting of yours is Tears of Joy, can you tell me more about the narrative behind this piece?
LRF: This was the first figurative I did that tended more towards abstraction. It was about finding peace and gratitude amidst hardship. The ‘tears’ are the rain that gives much needed water to the dryness of the souls journey and from that ‘rain’ of gratitude an abundance of new growth and hope springs up.
We are responsible for watering our own garden of dreams – we just don’t always realise how that happens.
K: How does intuition and emotion play a part in your art creating? Do you connect with your work spiritually in any way?
LRF: They are everything — an integral part of the creative process. My work is all about my spiritual journey – so yes. Art is a means for me to express visually what I feel, sometimes too deeply to fully comprehend. The creative process then allows me to integrate and deepen my awareness that way.
K: When you experience a creative “block” how do you resolve it? Do you have any advice for artists struggling currently with an artist’s block?
LRF: I don’t believe in a creative block. Basically, if you don’t get on the surf board you won’t catch the wave. So sitting around saying I am creatively blocked just perpetuates the problem. You just have to keep showing up and creating. Even if that means you clean your studio or bake or work in the garden. These are all grist for the mill and creative in their own way.
K: If you could imagine having the most enjoyable and fulfilling day, describe what that would be like. What kinds of things would you do?
LRF: Starting the day with hot yoga and a horse ride on the beach, then work on an equal amount of personal creative projects and commission work. Having a really long walk in the mountains with doggies. Having a gourmet vegan lunch and dinner made for me. Dancing with friends in the evening to really good music. Falling asleep looking at the stars and the moonlight on the sea.
Picnic No. 1
oil & oil pastel on canvas
K: What are some ways that your community can best support you as an artist?
LRF: I already have an amazingly supportive community in this little village – there are so many artists that they have managed to secure the title of Arts Town for Riebeek Kasteel. have an annual event – Solo Studios - over a weekend for paying art appreciators to visit each studio and buy direct from the artists.
These days I think more about how I in turn can assist the community – which Im doing by supporting the local village Food Kitchens whenever I have a studio sale. It feels so good being able to give back in some small way.