Yukon-born artist Leah Day lives fully immersed in the arts, as an abstract surrealist artist, actor, voice actor, poet, writer and musician
Art has always been infused in Leah Day’s life. The abstract surrealist artist, who is also an actor, voice actor, poet, writer and musician, was raised by artistic and musical parents. She goes as far as to say she and her younger brother would sing through their chores to get them done. They didn’t have internet or cable TV, so they entertained each other.
“We were enthralled by the art of windswept formations of snow, the blue hued mountains, the silence interrupted by trembling aspen on a warm summer night, the ripples of sparkling water on Lake Laberge; all of that, my brother and I equated to real magic—northern movie magic that I strive to recreate in some way,” Day tells What’s Up Yukon. “These experiences with nature formed me and I always had an innate need and desire to create. I was encouraged from a young age to follow my artist heart, and once I began to study at MAD, in Whitehorse, my love of acting and performing continued to emerge.”
Day creates in three different veins of visual art. Since she’s usually working on three series at once, she has them set up in separate areas of her arts studio. She decides what to spend time on based on her mood, the weather, deadlines and drying times.
“All of my art involves a through line of several elements: mathematically infused poems are at the base of each,” she explains. “I create the poem, which can be one line of writing to dozens of words, and the degree of each line indicates the order. This is the base of every piece. A secret in each one, if you will. If I am doing a commission, I interview my client first about colour schemes to complement their decor, statements that they may want included, the feeling they want the piece to exude, favourite animals and a list of what art of mine spoke to them most. This helps me narrow down the vibe that I hold from start to finish when creating the piece.”
With a heavy focus on nature in her art and collecting of supplies, Day uses recycled and forged material, which are integral to the statements about the climate crisis in her work.
“I use various natural pigments that I’ve experimented with, for many years, to ensure longevity,” she says. “This can be blueberries, kale, rosehips, turmeric, mushrooms, pine-needle husks, cherry juice, juniper berries, purple cabbage, burnt wood and natural paints created out of ground stone and bio resin made from pine sap.”
In addition to her environmental messages, Day aims to uplift queer voices through the arts, saying she wants to be the type of role model she would have liked to have had as a queer youth. Now based in Vancouver, Day says she will always remain connected to the Yukon, having spent her formative years living at Lake Laberge.
‘It took me about 10 years to get used to living in the city,” she says. “I spent the first ten years in a loft in downtown Vancouver—I played nature sounds that I recorded in the Yukon, every single day in my apartment, and that helped me adjust tremendously. I hike in nature nearly every day, and that was key for starting off living in the big city. I filled my apartment with plants from back home.”
Day is driven by the realization that our time on Earth to express ourselves is limited, and fear of judgment is not worth stifling creativity. Her multifaceted expressions are all the same interests she’s had since childhood, and she finds ways to balance all of her work through “good nutrition, exercise in nature, mindset motivational techniques, meditation and a good old-fashioned calendar.” She still has a life outside of her work too, though.
“If I’m not in the art studio, recording studio, training or on a film set, then you’ll almost always find me in the forest with my toddler, wife, dog and adventure cat,” she says.
To learn more about Day and to see her work, visit leahdayarts.com
