LEIGH ANN WILLIAMS HICKEY

Artist Statements

My work is a constant ebb and flow of what is happening within my life. I am a very raw and emotional person and my creative expression comes in many forms and mediums. I am currently working on several bodies of work. The most current bodies of work are created out of life events I have survived and I am learning to overcome. The art work created is part of my personal therapy and journey towards healing and finding my own identity. These paintings and sculptures tell stories through metaphors and symbolism.

EMPTY NEST SYNDROME

This series was created after my completion of EMDR therapy and learning to deal with my abandonment issues from my biological father and my trauma from not having a family of my own. Empty Nest Syndrome is a series that uses paper wasp nests as a metaphor for the family unit.  Some nests are fruitful and some are empty and barren.  The paintings all come from my reference photos from my collection of nests. These nests and all the sculptural elements such as the clocks and the tea cups have been gifted to me or have been handed down by family. The clock is symbolic of time; time lost and stolen. The clock body creates a space for the nest, guarding and encapsulating it. The children are often cocooned and shrouded in precious gold. The cicada is the keeper of time. The 17 years they stay in the ground is symbolic of my journey. The gem stones are all lab grown and represent the embryo grown through the process of IVF. My quest for a family was never fulfilled, I had an abortion when I was 21 then at 38, I found the love of my life and got married. I went through several rounds of unsuccessful IVF. I felt less than whole because I never had children. Society deems women as maternal, what does that make me? It has been a long road to get myself prepared to explore this work, which is ongoing.  I seek to know who I am and what is my purpose, often feeling not enough. These paintings and sculptures express my feelings of being ostracized by my own personal choices. 

DECAY

Decay is a body of work that started after I went through bilateral frozen shoulders and a recent shoulder reconstruction. I was in horrific pain and was in a constant drug induced haze. My only excursions out of the house were my trips to and from physical therapy 3 to 4 times a week. The highlight of my days became my chauffer driven escape to and from the torture. I became obsessed with graffiti covered train cars that lined the freeway on the 15-minute drive. The trains were constantly moving and evolving in textures and colors. I began to imagine where the trains had been and who had painted them. Reflecting on the transformation these boxcars had been through resembled my tattered body which had morphed over the now 4-year time period. I am constantly taking photographs of trains, walls, doors and windows that have been battered by age and layers of paint and grime. The idea that something can change with age and still be beautiful is important to me. This series consists of small and large-scale oil paintings on wood and canvas. 

ENVIORNMENTAL AND SOCIAL

This series of mixed media work addresses environmental and social issues. World views verses self-views that affect our world at large, and that will impact future generations to come. The concepts of overpopulation, global warming, the proliferation of guns, immigration, and other societal challenges facing the world we live in. These aerial images are of benign things that become patterns we use and find a necessity every day, yet when confronted by them in a new way it changes the way we think of them. I use facts and numbers within the image to confront the viewer with the results of societies impacts, embedding thoughts and patterns into the consciousness of viewer.