Leetia Lyons, also known by her alias Leechuts, is an illustrator and designer, mostly focused on digital media and creative production, living and working in Calgary, Alberta. Since graduating from AuArts in 2019, Leetia (pronounced Lee-cha) has been producing work, across a variety of mediums, for a handful of different companies and industries like RNDSQR, Lenovo, and Cummins.

“Coming out of the Design program at AuArts, I've had trouble aligning myself with a singular discipline, and I feel like I’ll either just focus on my dominant practice—digital illustration—or just keep being a jack of all trades. It’s hard to choose one thing when everything in the creative industry is so exciting and fulfilling!”

PARK reached out to Leechuts via Instagram to collaborate on two installations in Calgary—a popsicle-themed mural for #YYCBlockParty at Destination Deerfoot City and Colour Topography, a ground mural, for #VibranceYYC at St. Patrick’s Island in East Village.

“After skimming [PARK’s} website and social media for all of 2 minutes, I knew I was very down for whatever they wanted to collaborate on,” says the artist.

Read the full interview to learn more about the process behind both of Leechuts’ murals, her artistic inspiration, and the challenges of creating new work.

How did you develop the initial concepts for your pieces, and how did they evolve over the course of each project?

For#YYCBlockParty, I was very familiar with Deerfoot City and it’s fun and modern vibe—when I was a student, I used to live right down on 64th Ave so I would spend a lot of time at the food lodge working on school assignments and such. I submitted 3 different concepts to the call, all of them incorporating the rainbow palette and bold black & white stripes. All of my concepts included people on different levels of scale, but we ended up going with a more summery food-related vibe with the popsicles to tie the concept back to the food lodge area.

East Village is one of my favourite communities in Calgary for the public amenities and local coffee shops, and I just thought that the challenge of creating a piece that was a cohesive work of art as well as a functional guideline for social distancing was really exciting. The vibrance of East Village needed something super dynamic and organic, so I drew inspiration from topography lines that make up the landscape of Calgary. If you ever look at a topographical view of it, the highs of Nose Hill and the lows of the Bow River create really cool and dynamic-looking linework. So with the shape and line of that concept mixed with the colourful palette that tied into Michelle’s installation, we had a winner!

For you, what is the hardest or most challenging part of creating new work?

I feel like I still have a lot to learn to break out of my comfort zone. I’ve become very comfortable with creating within a specific subject matter and style that it’s difficult to imagine myself outside of that. Especially with commercial work, it’s very easy to just play it safe and create what I know the client will be happy with, but a mindset like that doesn’t push any innovation or uniqueness. The most challenging part, I think, is delivering on the prompt in a way that is unexpected and different—that pushes the envelope for art in this city. I think the most successful public artists do this well.

Where do you draw your inspiration from and how does it seep into your art?

I draw inspiration from so many avenues. I feel like, especially as an artist, it is important to explore things specifically outside of your little bubble of expertise. Movies, music, nature, travel, science, culture—there is an infinite stream of information and inspiration in everyone’s pockets. Say what you want about the negatives of social media, but I feel like the generations growing up with access to all these different kinds of expression and perspective are so lucky to be able to do so. When I’m feeling in a rut, it only takes a few scrolls on my feed of creatives to feel inspired again.

I feel like that’s why if you scroll through my Instagram posts, it’s all kind of a mishmash of different styles and influences. There are the obvious pools of influence that my art has developed from as I’ve grown like my culture and experiences, but with all these sources of inspiration coming at me from all angles it’s hard to pick one to draw from and stick with it. It will take a lot more time to be able to answer this question in a single sentence, but for now, I’m just an experimental mess—and kind of happy about it.

What do you hope people feel or think when they see your work?

I just love the sense of awe and excitement that people, including myself, get when they happen upon a new public art installation. Especially these two projects, which are so lively and colourful that you literally can’t look at it and not feel curious. I think the scale of these works also adds to the spectacle of it all—when creativity works it’s way into the environments that you are so used to, and then suddenly changes with this explosion of shape and line and colour, its a really cool feeling to have and witness.

Working on these projects, I also felt for the upcoming artists in this city that haven’t run into any opportunities for creating work in the public eye. I feel like, especially being so fresh out of my degree, it’s been daunting thinking about how to get paid work and how to have my work be seen. I feel like the default, especially with my generation, is to try to develop a following and connections online and then eventually move to a city where it’s more viable to work as an artist. That’s why I think what PARK is doing—setting the stage for more commercial art in Calgary—is so amazing. It helps artists feel comfortable building their careers here. I really appreciate you guys!

Has COVID-19 impacted your ability to continue working?

I think it has. This year has been crazy in terms of how people have needed to adapt and respond to the challenges that the entire world is facing right now. It has really been a catalyst for reflection—it has made me so grateful for my life and the privileges I enjoy every day, but it has also made me question a lot about myself and my growth as an artist and person. I’ve had a lot more time to pursue some passion projects outside of my work, and this pandemic has made me question greatly which direction I want my career, and life, to go in. It kind of feels like a rebirth if that’s not like a super cheesy way to look at it!

If you could pursue any project, regardless of time and funding, what would it be?

I just want to visit as many countries as possible and sketch everything. Like wow. There is so much out there it’s mind-blowing. I’d also want to get better at photography and videography because that would be just as magical to capture my experiences immersed in all these different cultures and locations.

Before you go, what have you been watching, listening to, looking at, or reading that you’d like to share with our readers?

I just re-watched Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s a storytelling classic and a joy if you haven’t seen it!
I’ve been listening to lots of Anderson .Paak and Action Bronson. I just love the soulfulness of their music and the rawness of their voices—it always makes for good background art-ing music.
I’ve been really enjoying @keimeguro posts on Instagram. She is a traditional artist that mostly does hyper-realistic portraiture with graphite, but she kind of has an influencer vibe with how she shares her lifestyle, fashion, and apartment atmosphere while she is creating. It’s refreshing to see an artist’s work as well as their life and opinions on my feed because it paints a much more well-rounded image of who they actually are.