Meet NUNUM's Summer 2020 Contributor: Leah Oates

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with Leah Oates

Leah Oates

Leah Oates gifted NUNUM's

summer 2020 issue with a touch of natural surrealism that angled us all back into a world that lately has seemed so very distant. 

Leah was kind enough to give us a bit of her time recently and yes, you know how things got started, or at least you should've known by now. 

Leah what was the first book that you remember sitting down and reading all by yourself? 

Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne​

Ah Pooh, very nice, he was on my bedsheets when I read my first book. It wasn't Pooh but he was there. Let's jump to now Leah, what was the last book you read that made you say damn that was a good book?

There are a few: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie, The Lover by Marguerite Duras, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Just Kids by Patti Smith and She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Transitory Space  by Leah Oates

Damn is right, that is a list Leah. The Poisonwood Bible has been a

Transitory Space  by Leah Oates

want to read of mine for years now, thank you for the reminder. I know this might sound strange in our current situation but what about on holiday Leah, do you have any go to writers? 

Anything by David Sedaris or Malcom Gladwell.

Oh, two new writers for me to add to the reading list. Thank you for that Leah. Next one is a quickee: pen, pencil or phone, which one do you reach for when you need to write something down?

Pen and paper.

Let's flip the focus to art for a bit, which contemporary artist do you most admire?

Kerry James Marshall.

And is there an artist in your local community that you would recommend people check out?

Edward Burtynsky.

Transitory Space  by Leah Oates

What about you Leah, who has influenced your work as an artist?

Transitory Space  by Leah Oates

Monet, Cezanne, Matisse, Man Ray, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Georgia O'Keeffe, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mary Cassatt, Helen Levitt, Yoko Ono, Edward Steichen, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Frida Kahlo, Lee Friedlander and. Louise Bourgeois.

That is a list, a few new ones in there for me so thank you for those Leah. For artists and writers sending work out to literary journals can be a process, do you have any advice for people who are just starting to send out their work? 

Hire a professional to take good images of your works,

meet the ​deadline date and follow the  directions when submitting. Keep trying as you will and won't get into some things too. Focus on the art first above else.

​Focus on the art, well said Leah.

Transitory Space  by Leah Oates

Artist's Statement

The Transitory Space series deals with urban and natural locations that are transforming due to the passage of time, altered natural conditions and a continual human imprint. This series articulates fluctuation in the photographic image and captures movements through time, perception and space. Transitory spaces have a messy human energy that is perpetually in the present yet continually altering. They are endlessly interesting, alive places where there is a great deal of beauty and fragility. They are temporary monuments to the ephemeral nature of existence.

Artist's Bio

Leah Oates has a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and​ an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Fulbright Fellow for graduate study at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.  From 2018 to 2020 Oates was in groups shows in Toronto at The Gladstone Hotel, Gallery 1313, Propeller Gallery, Papermill Gallery, Arta Gallery and Wychwood Barns. Oates has had solo shows at Black Cat Artspace, Susan Eley Fine Art, The MTA Lightbox Project at 42nd Street, The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, The Center for Book Arts, Real Art Ways in Connecticut and Artemisia Gallery in Chicago.

Eros, Manifest words by MK Sturdevant, art by Leah Oates

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