Creativity Helped Me Escape Severe Depression...

Chicago-based artist Anne Leuck calls herself a child of the ’70s, an era known for its bold sense of color and graphics. Grew up in Sparta, a small, idyllic, midwestern town in Wisconsin, Anne got intimately attached to the delights of color at home, where creativity spurred in little things since both her parents had a taste for art. Today, this 54-year-old visual storyteller experiments with traditional painting and drawing, as well as digital media, journaling, and ceramics. She has licensed her designs for stationery and home décor products, and her artwork has appeared on billboards, movies, books, TV, and magazines.

But there’s more to her story! In the prime of her career, Anne sunk into clinical depression. While the world got brighter and more joyful with her art, she suffered in silence. In a candid chat with Real Life Heroes - By Manvi, she discusses her life, artistic, and mental health journey.

Read on… Many Thanks to Manvi Tiwari

My small screen mini doc debut with Touchvision...

Warning: You might need tissues. I was humbled and grateful to have had my work and message captured so beautifully by Enero J. Ray and Chad Fedler of Touchvision. This was edited down from a 40 minute interview with me as well as a visit from my client Claire and her pups Medi and Tula.

Warning: You might need tissues (according to the folks on Facebook who watched it already). I am humbled and grateful to have had my work and message captured so beautifully by Enero J. Ray and Chad Fedler of Touchvision. This was edited down from a 40 minute interview with me as well as a visit from my client Claire and her pups Medi and Tula. We also took a field trip over to the new Urban Pooch Canine Training Center to get some footage of the new mural I designed. What a gift to have this tribute to my pups Izzy and Alice who were such an integral part of growing my art business and inspiring me to get involved with addressing the Homeless Pet situation so prevalent in our society.

So excited to be making BIG art...

My nervous sketchbook journal entry Friday morning...pre-install of my murals and canine characters for: Urban Pooch's new Canine Training & Fitness Center! The Grand Opening is this Saturday at 5400 N. Damen Avenue in Chicago.* The guys at Sign-a-rama did a fantastic job *

Co-owners Dan with Maxine (the green dog) and Ed, below with Berwyn, their actual dog (I did his portrait last year).Me with Georgie...so much FUN to see my dogs as bigger than life as cut outs!2nd smaller mural of "Mixed Breeds"

Spot!Joplin, the one REAL dog at the install...such a sweetie!View from the street as I was leaving...can't wait for the final signage to go up on the outside of the building. More pics to come!

There's no business like show business...

Screen shot 2013-08-19 at 1.24.54 PM

You haven't heard from me much this summer...but I've been plenty busy! In lieu of doing a myriad of outdoor artfairs I've been busy developing a Wholesale Line of Gift Items for Stores and Pet Boutiques. I showcased much of this new work at the Chicago Gift Market at the Merchandise Mart in July, and have many new products in the works since then. I love doing these shows, designing my booth, sharing new work with potential clients and meeting so many other lovely designers and makers. It was a blast, here's some before and after shots:

My most colorful booth to date - It's amazing what you can accomplish with a staple gun, a few rolls of colored paper and ikea shelving!

My new 'Holiday' selections!

My lovely girfriends from Green Daffodil, Siouxanne & Anne! 

My new best friend in Canada! Julie, at Julie Sinden Handmade. We did an 'international' trade, I got a super cute new winter hat!

...and the lovely Martha, of The 3 Sisters Design Studio! This gal is nonstop fun and a brilliant designer.

Space...

...I've been looking at a lot of it the last two days. I just gave my 30 day notice to terminate my storefront lease on Roscoe. This space didn't turn out to be exactly what I originally envisioned, but in this economy I was very lucky to receive many commissions from folks in the neighborhood, get some great exposure, interact with the community and in the end learn quite a bit about my(neurotic)self! I'm grateful that I was able to host some pet adoption events and share my passion for animals and finding them homes. I also met many artists inquiring about my journey and can only hope they were inspired to follow their artistic dreams.  

So, in a year of many changes in my life, this should complete the logistical portion of these changes, at least for awhile - I hope! Now I have some decisions to make, I loved the space above, but it's a little out of my price range and a bit further north than I want to be. The good news is, I saw some other great options today...so stay tuned, hope to have a new studio secured sooner than later...and this all means good news for you if you like my work: A STUDIO MOVING SALE!  Let me know if you've had your eye on anything, I'm feeling VERY negotiable these days and would rather see my art on your wall than mine!

Not just a change of seasons...

Having this storefront space has been an interesting experience...I've been here 1.5 years and kept regular open studio/gallery/shop hours for most of that time. I continue to get lots of commission work from people in the neighborhood but it's difficult to get that work done during 'open' hours and it's hard to commit to that during the summer when I have so many outdoor shows. So...I re-painted the "Gallery & Shop" sign to read "Art Studio". For now I'll be open on occasion, for special events and probably most Saturdays. Closer to the holidays, I may have set hours. It already seems to be working out, I've had a few appointments and even some knocks on the door this week. I'm happy to meet with you most days or evenings and you are always welcome to knock on the door if you're in the neighborhood!

Speaking of being open...this Saturday, September 18th is Guinness Oyster Fest in Roscoe Village so I will be open from Noon-7pm. Stop in for a drink and some special end of the season deals!

Sketchbook Project 2011...

I just signed up for the Sketchbook Project 2011. Guess which theme I chose? Big surprise: 'It's raining dogs & cats'. You can participate too..just follow the links. Thanks to Kathy Weller for the reminder.

Anne's Art in another Feature Film...!

"Dog Days"

"Betty & Barney"

I just signed a final film credit release for my prints "Dog Days" and "Betty & Barney" to be used on the set of Doggie Boogie, a feature film coming out sometime next winter. These prints will be hanging in the set apartment of character, Peter Wolfe, owner of
Doggie Boogie, a dog dancing school...hopefully we'll see them - that's not always the case.

My previous brushes with the silver screen:

The Break-Up - You never saw my art in this Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston movie because they cut the
original ending...didn't see it in the dvd alternate ending either. (My entire art fair booth was in it, plus my friend Eva May and I were hired as extras...it was a very fun 2 days of shooting along with some other art fair pals and their work on the set at Buckingham Fountain in August of 2005.)

The Number 23 - My postcards and book mark were easy to spot in this Jim Carrey flick plus I got a little press and sold the painting that was on the postcard....