Meet Leigh DiFulvio | Abstract Artist and Mental Health Advocate

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

Hi Leigh, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I struggle with anxiety, and so risk taking is something that doesn’t come easy for me. However, I think it’s an essential part of growth.

Recently, I took a personal risk by deciding to open up about my mental health and how it affects my art making. To me, this was a risk because there unfortunately is still a stigma around mental health issues and it’s not something openly talked about. I’ve had people tell me to “be careful about over-sharing” or that what I say could be used against me. Or, I’m also afraid that people may misinterpret my openness with attention-seeking, or looking for pity. But for me, it’s not about that. In today’s day and age, more and more people are struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, or all sorts of mental illnesses, and unfortunately many people are afraid to talk about it or seek out the treatment they need. I want to be a part of normalizing the conversation around mental health through sharing my own struggles.

My art-making and my mental health go hand-in-hand. I use the art making process as a way of turning unmanageable, untamed, pure emotion into self-knowledge and acceptance. It functions as a way of letting unconscious emotions come forward, allows me to process them, and result in a visual “journal” that documents the way I’m feeling. This practice has helped me stay true to myself, and create intuitive art that comes from the heart, vs. making pre-conceived, stale, forced art that I don’t relate to. Or, I use my artwork as a way to create visual positive affirmations; even if I may be feeling down, I create art that feels how I *want* to feel. That emotional attachment keeps me from selling out and making the same kind of art that everyone else around me already makes. But, most importantly, I hope my art strikes a chord with a viewer and helps them realize they aren’t alone, that its okay to feel “not okay,” and to help them find healthy outlets, as well.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
For me, the biggest challenges I’ve had to learn to overcome are dealing with my own anxiety and depression, and how they end up effecting my creativity. I have Treatment-Resistant Depression, which often times feels debilitating. I’ve tried nearly everything there is to try to alleviate the depression, but nothing seems to have lasting results. The biggest bummer about this is that the majority of the time, my creative spark is dampened dramatically by my depression. Lately, I’ve constantly found myself in a state of creative block, with no real inspiration, no matter what I try. However, I am determined not to let the depression win. So, my solution to this problem is my series of work I call “Meditations” (you can see examples on my website or instagram @leighdifulvio_art.) For this series, I cover a sheet of Bristol paper with parallel lines in varying colors and patterns. The process, as you could guess, is extremely meditative. And most importantly, it keeps me in the studio and keeps my hands moving even when I don’t want to or when I don’t know what to make. That way, once the inspiration does strike, I’m ready to roll and am still in the grove of making. And if the inspiration doesn’t strike, well, it feels good to be able to look at something visually-pleasing that I managed to make even when I felt depressed and unmotivated.

I’ve learned that there are two big things to keep in mind when it comes to creative blocks. 1) Don’t force a masterpiece. You’ve got to understand that creativity comes in waves, and that progress is not linear. Each piece you make isn’t necessarily going to be better than the one before it. So be easy on yourself, and don’t expect greatness every time you pick up a brush. And 2) Keep your hands busy. It can become easy to avoid the studio when you aren’t feeling it, but that’s not going to help anything. You’ve got to keep your hands busy somehow, even if it isn’t your normal means of creating art. Like how I draw my meditation lines, find what works for you. Maybe it’s making a collage, or maybe its trying out ceramics or another form of art, who knows! But you’ve just gotta keep your hands busy so when the inspiration does strike again, you’re ready.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m 2.5 years sober, so I’m not much for night life, but we could catch a show at The Attic or Pine Creek Lodge, and have dinner at Campione or Yellowstone Valley Grill. During the day, I’d take them floating on the Yellowstone River through the rapids at Yankee Jim Canyon. We’d hike up to Pine Creek Lake and check out the alpine lakes and wildlife.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The book No Mud No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh was a very influential book. It’s about “the art of transforming suffering” and how you have to go through hard times (the mud) before beautiful things are born (the lotus.) I read the book at a time when I was really suffering with depression and suicidal ideations, and decided to get a partial sleeve tattoo dedicated to the book to remind me that no matter what I’m going through, good things will inevitably come and things will be okay.

Website: www.leighdifulvio.com

Instagram: @leighdifulvio_art