Welcome/Meet the Artist <3

Hi everyone!

I thought it would be nice to write an official welcome to my website and blog. This is so exciting to me because I've never thought to ever write a blog, but with this I can really write out some more of my thoughts to those that are interested in reading. I'm not too sure what I want to say, so I'm just gonna write what comes to the heart, same as I do when creating my art.

To give a little backstory about my name, it is name Aliah. So occasionally you may see/hear people calling me by my government name lol. I love my name, but it was important for me to establish myself as a notable artist with an artist name. One day I came up with a simple mixture of my nickname, middle name, and last name initial for an email address back when I was trying to conceal my online identity from "them" lol. As if Lia Frenae would be hard to unscramble and figure out that I was Aliah Fisher. I watched too much Hannah Montana.

Moving forward..

I'm a Kansas City, Missouri based artist as well as a native. Recently, I finished my Studio Art BA at the main university in Kansas City called UMKC. That was quite a journey, but it was a chapter of my life I am grateful to have gone through and seen it through. There were many times I wanted to give up and experiencing some of it during the start of the pandemic did not help. However during my time there I met some amazing fellow artists and friends who have played huge roles in my creative process and inspirations. I appreciated my time there as a multidisciplinary artist because the structure of the degree pushed us to try out different mediums. Though college wasn't completely necessary for me, I personally feel my take away was valuable.

I would like to elaborate more on being a multidisciplinary artist. I've always been a creative of some sort whether my mom had me in dance, theater, art classes, or orchestra. Sometimes I paint, draw on my iPad, draw by hand, animate, etc. Behind the scenes I'm writing, making songs, sculpting, making jewelry; there's a lot I can do! I could never get bored with being an artist. Through and through, my main love is with visual art.

When I'm creating I tend to do it impulsively. Once I get the urge, I have to make the time to at least get it started in the day. It is rare that I brainstorm too far ahead of time. For this reason, I often create the things that immediately inspires me. Often I am inspired by a specific emotion, I am experiencing it right within that moment and I go forward from there. When it's not that, I just love cool ish. I love fashion and I love looking good lol. So that is something I also like to highlight especially the fashion from my Black American heritage. I have an appreciation for both the masculine and feminine styles and minimalism. If you see me in person you may think I am a minimalist based on my style, but I love all the chaos. Although I am very in touch with my culture, I like to include other subgroups and cultures that could apply to my life and it's surroundings.

Lastly, another motif that is found in my art is my womanhood. I like to the Greek Mythological character Medusa as a symbol because I respect her story and the struggles she endured. When creating with Medusa, I like to extend her story to someone that was able to live life normally again. More recently, I am studying on the river orisha/goddess Oshun who symbolizes water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality. I first learned of this deity indirectly from Beyoncé and officially in an African art history class. I recently took notice of the connection many Black women appear to have with water and it intrigued me once again. So I am excited to see where this goes.

This post was much longer than I expected it to be, so I'll end it right here. If you read this far, thank you. Feel free to reach out to me about any questions you have. I will be happy to hear from you. Thank you for visiting my website!

Have a great day!

Lia <3