Bayou Artist: Leah Reitzell

TO HER STUDENTS, PEERS AND FAMILY, LEAH REITZELL IS A POWERHOUSE OF ENERGY FOR GOOD. SHE’S A FULL-TIME TEACHER, MOTHER OF THREE AND WORKING ARTIST. HER LOVE, JOY AND TALENTS EXTEND FAR BEYOND
THE BOUNDARIES OF A CANVAS OR THE WALLS OF A CLASSROOM. LEAH IS THIS MONTH’S BAYOU ARTIST.

ARTICLE BY APRIL CLARK HONAKER AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK

LEAH SMITH REITZELL IS A FORCE, a whirlwind, a powerhouse of energy for good. Not only is she a working artist, but she’s also a wife, mom and teacher. “I’m always moving,” she said. “I don’t think. I just do.” On weekdays, she imparts her skills and positivity to students at Sterlington High School, and on the weekends, she gives private art lessons and does live wedding paintings. Along the way, she also makes time for family and time for her own painting. “I’m one of those who tries to juggle everything, and if something falls, I try to catch it,” she said.

Over the years, Leah’s success and the success of her students have become testaments to her juggling abilities. Since her first exhibition in 2011 during a Downtown Art Crawl, Leah and her art have become beloved by the community. In fact, she’s been a finalist in a local reader’s choice competition in the artist category for the last six years. As a natural leader, she’s also one of the oldest members of the Downtown Arts Alliance, has served a term as vice president for the Louisiana Art Education Association, and started a National Art Honor Society chapter at Sterlington High School.

In addition, Leah recently pioneered an Adobe certification program at Sterlington, making it one of the first schools in the region to offer the program. Students who graduate Adobe certified will leave high school already equipped for jobs in graphic arts, and if they choose postsecondary education, they’ll be ahead of their peers in terms of skills. Although Leah is primarily a painter, she dabbled in graphic design in college and said, “I colored too much outside the lines for it. It just wasn’t my bag.” But she’s continued to develop her skills in this area for the sake of her students. Getting them certified and job ready is important to her. At the same time, she continues to encourage them to color outside the lines and has watched her students win major awards, such as the George Rodrigue Scholarship Art Contest.

Not only are Leah and her students doing great work, but they’re also giving back to the community. In fact, since Leah joined the faculty at Sterlington, her students have completed over 20 community-based art projects. One of their biggest projects has been a Louisiana-themed mural series inside Marion State Bank. “I really believe in being very involved in the community and teaching the kids to give back to the community,” she said, “to make the community a better place through art.” Fortunately, the administration at Sterlington has been supportive of Leah’s ideas, and she’s never felt confined or limited. “I’m really happy where I am. It’s a blessed, wonderful situation,” she said, “with wonderful kids and a wonderful school.” Leah believes if you’ve been blessed, you should pass those blessings along to others.

She’s especially thankful to have had teachers and mentors who did the same for her along the way. Leah graduated from Neville High School, where she was continually inspired by her art teachers Brenda Rowan, Linda Ward and Patricia Turner. Even then, she knew that she wanted be a teacher and work with other teachers. Their passion and enthusiasm was infectious. Now as she watches some of her own students choose art education as a career, Leah feels she’s come full circle. She became the legacy of her own art teachers, and now she has an opportunity to create a similar legacy. But before Leah was called to teach and inspire others to teach, she was first an artist.

“At three, I was drawing on all the backs of my mom’s shopping receipts and sometimes on the backs of cabinets,” she said. Later, in school, she tended to get in trouble for drawing during class. In fact, one teacher even attempted to end her career as an artist, before it launched. “She told me I wouldn’t get anywhere drawing,” Leah said. “She told me I needed algebra, and I don’t use that, but I draw every day of my life.” Fortunately, Leah was persistent, and her mom and dad were supportive, which led Leah to continue pursuing art through high school and college, where she was inspired by professors Robert Berguson and Edwin Pinkston. Leah earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Louisiana Tech University in 2003 and then went on to earn a Master of Education in art education for grades K-12.

After working a short time as a child advocate for the Domestic Abuse Resistance Team (DART) in Ruston, Leah scored an interview at Sterlington High School. She was a young 24 at the time, and the principal wasn’t sure she could handle the students, but Leah assured him she was ready. She’s been teaching there ever since.

“I have a really unique opportunity to put in practice what my passion is,” she said. “Art is around me every day of my life, and I like being a working artist, as well as a teacher.” Painting every day helps her relate to her students better and helps them solve artistic problems. “I feel like I’ve got a lot more to give them,” she said. Leah not only nurtures their artistic skills but also their spirits. “I try to tell them something that will bring them joy every day,” she said. One of the greatest lessons she’s learned as an artist and a person is to never give up on your dreams and to embrace your unique spirit, because people will be drawn to it. She tries to share this lesson with her students and to build them up with positivity.

In fact, positivity is one of the cornerstones of Leah’s life. But she admits that it would be difficult to stay positive and balance so many responsibilities if it weren’t for a phenomenal support system and incredible kids who’ve fit seamlessly into her family’s art-filled lifestyle. “Where I am is a pretty wonderful place to be,” she said, “but I don’t think I would be where I am without my parents, Mack and Evette Smith and Peggy and Steve Reitzel.” According to Leah, grandparents on both sides have provided the love and support necessary to keep things going. “Most of the time, the kids are with me, but some quality time with grandparents lets me pour a little into myself,” she said. Leah’s husband Mac is also a huge supporter and helps Leah hang all of her shows. “I feel really lucky,” she said. “I couldn’t have the career I have, the life I have and be as busy as I am without their support.
Because Leah’s kids spend a lot of time with her, they’re inevitably growing up surrounded by art. “My oldest [Noah] is very inspired by seeing me work,” she said. In fact, he participated in his first exhibition alongside his mom at a Downtown Gallery Crawl a few months ago. “That was the best thing ever,” she said. But all three of Leah’s boys embrace opportunities to be creative. They all paint and draw, and the youngest is especially fluid in Play-Doh. “It’s fun to see that evolve,” she said.

With three boys and such a busy life, it’s a wonder that Leah finds the time or energy to be creative, but being surrounded by creativity on a daily basis is inspiring in itself. Leah also knows how to create an environment at home that gets the creative juices flowing. After the kids go to bed, she turns on some music, and it’s like a switch flips. “That instantly immerses me into a creative vibe,” she said. Leah listens to everything from classic rock to soul to 1940’s favorites, such as Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra and Etta James.

Leah loves to perpetuate a sense of joy and freedom in her work. “My work is light and lyrical,” she said, “and there seems to be a real appetite for that now.” As a result, she has made it her life’s mission to bring that kind of work to people. “I think I have a distinctive style. I think it’s my own, and I’ve learned to embrace it,” she said. But like most artists, developing her unique style took time and practice. “I had to find my way,” she said. “I had to find my style. I had to find what would sell.”

The outcome of that journey has been a body of work full of thick textures and bold energy that reflects her personality. The work dances across the canvas, inviting viewers to interact and engage. While having viewers tangibly engage might bother some artists, Leah welcomes it. “I love when kids ask if they can touch it,” she said. Allowing viewers, especially kids, the opportunity to touch her work gives them another avenue of connecting with it—a way of making it their own. At the same time, it requires Leah to let the work go. According to Leah, exhibiting your work in public is almost like walking around naked. It’s exposing and challenging, and you never know how someone will react. “But I love it,” she said. “I love people. I love their nuances. I love their beauty, and I love connecting people to the artistic part of themselves they didn’t know they had.”

Every time she paints, the process provides a platform for expressing who she is and also a means of connecting with others. “I can just be myself,” she said, “and that feels really good. I like to be original, and it’s cool when people can tell a work is yours.” Over time, the constant, daily practice has made Leah a better, more productive painter. “It’s like breathing now,” she said, “and I feel like the sky’s the limit. I just want to keep expressing as long as God gives me.”

Much of Leah’s work has Louisiana themes, but many of her commissioned pieces depict people. She has done a lot of family scapes, which she describes as customized, fine art renderings of a client’s family in an abstract sense. “I love the concept of family and the family unit,” she said, “so creating these family scapes is a really amazing part of what I do.” Sometimes she even has the opportunity to watch her clients’ families evolve and to adapt their paintings to reflect their growing families. “I love portraying the seasons of life and events of life,” she said. “I love portraying that movement and rhythm, and I hope I can capture a bit of their souls—where they were in that moment. It’s an honor to be able to do that for someone.”

Although Leah has been creating family scapes for years, she recently dove into a whole new but related endeavor: live wedding painting. When she was first approached with the idea, she thought it would be a fun challenge and jumped at the opportunity. Because she’s fluent in the figure and works quickly and furiously, her style of painting is perfectly suited for capturing the movement and flow of a wedding, reception or other event. Not only does she provide some unique entertainment for guests, but also she gives the couple a keepsake they can appreciate for the rest of their lives. Her hope is that the painting will take them right back to that moment and the joy they felt in that day. When she thinks of weddings, Leah thinks of the intertwining of souls, the love, and the merging of families and traditions. Those ideas are present in every stroke of her brush.

“I’m a hopeless romantic,” she said. “I married on the beach with my toes in the sand, and I come from a long line of hopeless romantics.” Given that romance comes so naturally to her, she’s right at home telling couples’ love stories on canvas. “I love ‘love’ and the idealism of it,” she said, “and I think we need every bit of it to make the world go around. If I can capture a couple’s love story on canvas, then I feel like I’m truly sharing my gift.”

Leah is undoubtedly a woman with many gifts to share. Her love and joy and talents extend far beyond the boundaries of a canvas or the walls of a classroom. “I put everything I have into what I do,” she said. “I love what I do, and I practice what I preach, whether it’s on the canvas or in the classroom.”