Leonie Briggs

Leonie first became involved with Keighley Creative when it held an open exhibition in its Hanover Street base and had one of her works displayed. She also acted as a volunteer during the event. This, along with joining an artists’ get-together, was her introduction to Keighley’s art community.

She describes her work as multi-disciplinary. Leonie said: “I’m still trying to find where I fit in. A lot of my work is inspired by animation so I think that’s very evident. People often ask me if I’ve watched certain cartoons because they can see the influence. I’d say my art is multi-disciplinary.

“I’ve recently got more involved in community art and I’ve worked with the youth group up at the Sue Belcher Centre [in Bracken Bank] to paint a mural. That was led by what the youth wanted. We did some character design based around people in their community who inspired them or made them feel safe or positive. We made a
big mural for the outside of the Sue Belcher Centre. That was my first real experience of that kind of community-based artwork, and I’d really love to start doing more of that because it was really rewarding.

“Other than that, I’ve done a lot of private commission-based work. I got some funding last year to do a sculpture for the library and my biggest project, painting a sculpture for the York Sculpture Trail. The sculptures were made in Keighley by Norse Sky. The sculpture was brought here; it was six feet tall. Then I had to paint it within a couple of months. It was placed outside Clifford’s Tower. It was then auctioned off for charity. The sculptures were made-up creatures, like folklore creatures – a new kind of creatures called Snooks – with books. I thought it was like
a yeti. These creatures loved reading and they just appeared in York to learn and visit the museums.”

Her work is both two-dimensional and three-dimensional, in digital and traditional. “I start a lot of my work on my iPod, doing a lot of sketching on there, a lot of character-based work,” Leonie said. “Then depending on my mood at the time, or what the character speaks to me, determines whether I go on to do that in 2D or 3D.

“I am a big fan of anime and manga but to me my work doesn’t look like these. It’s more like Americanised cartoons that my style is inspired by. It does make me smile when people say that because I don’t see it, but I can see why other people would. I started off drawing my own characters in the Adventure Time cartoon style. I really
love Disney too because the weight of the bodies and the limbs are bottom heavy. I think subconsciously I’m picking things from different places.

“A lot of my inspiration is from cartoon, animation, some illustration and my childhood and folklore – I love folklore.”

Leonie was born in Batley but moved to Wakefield at an early age. After leaving school and college she worked childcare, having been told there would always be employment opportunities in that sector. But an interviewer who questioned her creativity when she applied for a supermarket job sparked her desire to go back into
education, and she gained a place at Calderdale College to gain a degree in contemporary art practice. “The tutors there were great and really pushed me to better myself and my creative skills.

“Initially I wanted to become a costumer, working in theatre, but I’m a bit of a home bod and there was nothing local in those areas. Another dream of mine was to do illustration, so I started working on my current style and developing that from the ground upwards. It’s still a process and I’m always chasing the next thing I can do.”

She said of her first involvement in the Keighley art community: “I suffered really badly with my mental health, so getting out was a big thing. A lot of my artwork, though it might not look like it, is heavily influenced by mental health. It usually has some kind of undercurrent of my mental health, my experiences, trying to feel better. The goal is just trying to feel better and I like to inject some of that into my artwork.”

Leonie has recently completed a master’s degree. “My work is varied but people say you can see the style running through, which I like. I like just trying different things. The textile stuff is very new. I used to do acrylic painting years ago, but I started that again when I got the studio space to do it. It’s just finding where it all belongs now. I don’t feel I’m a fine artist who belongs in galleries but I don’t feel like an illustrator who should be illustrating books. Now I’ve finished my masters, it’s trying to find where I’m going to slot myself into.

“Cat [Murray, the Keighley Creative events manager] approached me to do the visual note takings for the Keighley long-term plan funding meetings. I was really excited by that because it’s something different. I went to the meetings, drew the people who were there and then put together some key quotes. We’ve done five meetings with
very different Keighley-based communities.

“I want to see my MA work, in illustration, printed, then later have my people of Keighley printed as a little book. That’s got quite a lot of interest on Instagram.

“I feel like, since being here, the ball has slowly started to roll, and hopefully I can keep that momentum going now and build on it. My current goal is to make a living out of what I do. I want to put out something that makes me feel better and then other people will look at and that makes them smile. My big dream was to become a children’s book illustrator, but I don’t quite know if that fits anymore, so at the moment I’m just going with whatever opportunities come my way and see how it progresses.”