My name is Leah Steiner and I am a 25 year old self taught artist from Chapel Hill, Nc. I graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2021 with a bachelors in Communication and Women and Gender Studies. I have always been a creative person but it wasn’t until 2020 that I started using that creativity in an artistic way. For my capstone Women and Gender studies class, I chose Art in Activism and it was during that class I found myself in a love affair with art and artistic expression. My group ended up winning the first ever creative activism award for our project titled “Mutant.”

Art has become everything to me; I have used it as means of healing myself from the outside world, as well as a pure form of self expression. Art has given me a sense of happiness and fulfillment I never thought was possible, even as I used it to heal from traumatic experiences. People are so quick to say ‘I can't paint, i'm not artistic." When I encounter these types of people I often urge them to separate themselves from ideas of perfection and end product. I then share with them a quote from Picasso that says: "to draw, you most close your eyes and sing.