Meet Nikki Leeper | Wearer of Many Artistic Hats (mostly beanies)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nikki Leeper and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nikki, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I think it’s really hard for creatives to have a firm work/life balance, for so many of us I think our work feels like our life.

In my own practice, the inspiration to work comes in waves. I can go for a week working 12+ hour days in my studio and then not even go through the studio door for the rest of the month, and I felt a lot of shame about that for a long time. But creativity isn’t something that you clock into at 9am and out of at 5, at least it isn’t for me. It’s the lens through which everything is filtered, even when I’m not making anything.

So the work is my life, but my life is also my work. The time I spend outside of the studio is just as important to my work as the time spent doing the work itself. No-one can create in a vacuum and very few can conjure inspiration on demand.

I spent a lot of time trying to force myself into some kind of regimen, and now I’m learning that I make better art (and more of it!) when I allow myself to work when my brain is excited and rest when my body needs it. This is a truth that I am trying to live up to. It remains challenging… but not nearly as challenging as trying to conform to someone else’s idea of a good work/life balance.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The joke is that I love making friends… out of recycled materials. I make dolls, puppets and figures using found materials, most of which would otherwise end up in a dump. I want people to connect to my art the way they connect with a friend, because that is the connection I feel to my art as I make it.

I do a lot of working harder, not smarter. Because I work with a lot of found objects and repurposed materials, I am always learning or inventing new ways to make art. My work is the result of a lot push and pull between my original vision and what the materials are willing to do, I think it’s that compromise that brings texture and character into my work.

I am still struggling to figure out where I fit in the larger “art world”… not quite a crafter, not quite a fine artist, with qualities of an illustrator, a puppeteer and a designer… as soon as I find one box to fit in, I feel the need to move on to another! But it’s this wide range of interests and mediums that makes my work unique.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Being in St. Louis, you cannot beat the free art museum and zoo.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m forever grateful that I was born to an artist and a woman who loved him anyway. And to my husband, one of the best surprises of my life. Also for my friends… Anna Overmoyer, Beth Ashby, Shualee Cook and Danny Wolevar who are not only lovely people but incredible creatives as well.

Website: https://nikki-leeper-makes.webnode.page/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkileeper

Twitter: https://twitter.com/N_Leeper

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nleeper.illustration

Image Credits
The picture of me was taken by Theron Smith