We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lori Kanary a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lori , so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Like most artists, I fuel my creativity through everyday living. At any moment I can get an idea or mental clue to help strengthen pre-existing ideas for future projects so I am constantly taking notes in my phone notepad or sketchpad.
I make creativity a priority by adopting daily habits to help ignite my imagination. A simple walk, or daily meditation for instance, gives my brain time to rest and increases my creative thinking process. I also like to integrate daily activities while I am working on a project as it breaks the day up while maintaining the creative flow that I need to keep going.
Like life, creativity ebbs and flows so I often take breaks from the act of making art, which can be weeks or even months at a time. For me, creative breaks are necessary for good work/life balance.
During a recent creative break, I was invited to have my work included in an art auction for KUVO radio’s Jazz Fundraiser at Denver’s Balestreri Vineyards. It was a great chance to meet potential clients and new collectors and at the same time recharge my creative battery while listening to the best live Jazz in the country!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My main body of work consists of vivid color and industrial textures that weave throughout my landscapes, figurative and ever popular animated house paintings. As a multi-media artist , I often have ideas that require new inventive techniques which can be seen in my more unconventional work.
What I am known for however, is my oversized Lite-Brite work which has garnered 3 Guinness World Records for me including my initial record I set in 1999. The oversized works based on the Lite-Brite toy, utilize actual Lite-Brite pegs to create the oversized illuminated images. I’ve done Lite-Brite commissions for ASICS and St. Paul Foundation and assist people all over the world on how to make the giant works. My original Giant Lite-Brite now resides at the Hollywood Guinness World Record Museum in Los Angeles, California.
Examples of other unique mediums utilizing my self-styled techniques can be seen from past gallery exhibits:
Specimen- Is a 2 part exhibit in which I used toy Silly Putty to convey body dysmorphia through plastic surgery. The first exhibit are celebrity portraits done with ink on Silly Putty displayed under plexiglass “microscope slides”.
The second exhibit displays graphite drawings of “enhanced” medical patients and surgical incisions printed onto Silly Putty.
Vintage Realism- Is a charcoal drawing series depicting photo-realistic portraits of western outlaws and prominent American figures that mimic actual 19th century photographs.
When I am not creating art, I work as a creative consultant. I have designed everything from company logos to hot sauce label artwork. I especially love the challenge of materializing other peoples ideas and strive to make their vision a reality, whether it be product design or personal art commission.
In a recent and rather challenging art commission, a client wanted miniature 2×3 inch pinatas for her Cinco de Mayo display. I looked everywhere online to see if there was a blueprint I could use to make the tiny festive forms but couldn’t find one that small. So I delved into my past sculpting knowledge and after some brainstorming, was able to create the pocket sized pinatas that she wanted.
Currently, I am writing and illustrating a bestselling book series based on my dogs and their canine adventures, habits an challenges which I plan to launch next year. Hello, Publishing World?
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Be authentic- It’s been said that the authentic self is the soul made visible. Authenticity is vital in art and especially important in the age of AI, where the line between what is real and authentic is becoming increasingly blurred. Set yourself apart from the creative herd. Don’t worry about competition and don’t focus on others. When you focus on yourself, you have no competition.
Ignore the gatekeepers- When I was younger, people told me, “You can’t do something this way, or that way” or “You can’t just walk into a gallery and show them your portfolio and expect them to pay attention to you”, but that’s exactly what I did one night with my oversized Lite-Brite concept in tow.
One evening in 1999, during an art walk, I walked into a well known gallery with sketchpad and proposal in hand and briefed the gallery owner on my brand new oversized toy concept. He loved the idea so much that without even knowing me gave me an exhibit space and the rest is art history.
Direct your own success- Although my work has attracted the press on many occasions, I am a firm believer that if the press doesn’t come to you, you should go to the press. Remember that nobody can promote you, better than yourself, so don’t be afraid to toot your own horn!
Case in point. In 2010, I was reading a newspaper article about a fellow artist by Don Morreale, a human interest writer for The Denver Post. Inspired by the article, I contacted Don and asked him if he would like to do a story about my record setting Lite-Brite work. Not only did I land a newspaper article with him, but he liked my story so much that he later included me in his book, “Cowboys, Yogis, and One-Legged Ski Bums: The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary Coloradans.” in 2014.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, Gladwell outlines unconventional paths that lead people of all disciplines to success.
Gladwell describes an outlier as a person or thing that is different from the norm or the majority of a group. They can also be people who have different strengths and experiences, or who see things differently.
The main message of The Outliers is the idea that achievement does not occur in a vacuum and that success is the result of an unlikely series of opportunities, likewise, you must opportunely position yourself to reach goals and obtain success.
My key takeaways from The Outliers are:
-If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.
-Achievement is talent plus preparation.
-Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.
-A person’s success is a product of circumstance, luck, and fortitude and of course hard work.
-Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.
-Nobody makes it alone. Knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect, is learned knowledge.
The Outliers is a great book for anyone looking to achieve their creative goals and after reading it myself, helped me better understand my own unconventional approaches to making my creative goals a reality.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.kanaryart.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lori.kanary
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KanaryStudio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewBeen
Image Credits
Christopher Perez Guinness World Record Museum Hollywood Lite-Brite Toy Stock Photo
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
