My creative expression is a melange of art and words inspired by my yoga, mindfulness meditation, spiritual, Reiki healing touch, and green living practices. It is also inspired by my U Street neighborhood, nature, holistic health studies, world travel experiences, ancestral legacy (African, Native American, and European), creativity coaching services, and artist residency at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts.
Several of my paintings decorate the covers of my books and VIDA scarf designs. Also, my drawings of Cuban Santeria, Ghanaian Adinkra, and Haitian Vodun symbols are included in my books.
Since 1995, my mixed media collages, wire sculptures, and paintings have been exhibited in the Washington DC metropolitan area, New York City, North Carolina, and Kentucky. My artwork was featured in Heart and Soul Magazine in 2001. In 2002, I created and donated Our Womanist Spirit and I am my sista’s keeper wire sculpture collections to the Women’s Collective, a direct services organization that serves women living with HIV/AIDS. My concern for people living with HIV/AIDS motivated me to create Ask The Troubadours Who Have Come From Those Who Have Loved, a wire sculpture collection dedicated to African Americans and World AIDS Day. The collection was donated to Howard University Hospital in 2003.
From 2001 to 2018, I served as an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at Howard University Hospital and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. One of my favorite art projects was making cards welcoming President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to Washington, D.C. in 2009. Several patients and staff at Howard University Hospital had the idea of making cards. We used magazine clippings, construction paper, crayons, colored pencils, and magic markers to create several cards during a two-week period in January 2009. It was powerful to watch everyone create and write their messages filled with positive energy and wisdom. I mailed the cards with African American postage stamps (per the request of the patients and staff).
Click on the links below to see some of the artwork I created with Howard University Hospital and Walter Reed patients, military families, and staff.
- Art work – Howard University Hospital
- Art work – Walter Reed group #1
- Art work – Walter Reed group #2
Currently, I am working on the #ThrivingMindfully collection which includes wire sculptures, collages, and paintings.
Read my Artist CV and Statement.
Click here to see photos of my artwork on Flickr.
Photo Credit: Leigh Mosley
Ananda Leeke 