| Luna Nocturnal Art & Wonder is coming up in Sept. 29 in Revelstoke. |
The arts festival brings creativity and energy to the streets of Revelstoke. Visitors have six hours to discover over 40 art installations selectively places within the downtown core, enhanced with music, food, performances and business events.
Installations may appear in shop windows, empty spaces, alleyways and unexpected places as the familiar is transformed into something new and fantastic.
Leila Neverland and her trio Mountain Sound will be performing at LUNA.
Tell us about the art you create. What mediums do you use? What is your style?
I create space and ambiance that encourage inner exploration and transformation through music, storytelling and performance. My solo work is now amplified with my new trio Mountain Sound, and we identify as heavy neo-soul hip hop. Our style is very unique in that we touch on many contrasting influences including folk like Tom Waits, Ella Fitzgerald, Bjork, The Marx Brothers, and Tupac.
When and how did you get started as an artist?
My grandmother put me on her knees and let my hands follow hers while she played Chopin and Beethoven’s piano tunes. My mom encouraged a lot of painting and exploring the world through colour. My father was an architect and so came math and order. I started writing stories when I was too young to remember, and wrote my first song at age 15. It was called I Wanna Go Back, a pure protest song about moving to Texas.
How has your art changed over the years?
I’ve experimented with many different kinds of performance styles and instruments including collaborative spoken word projects, guitar, piano, ukulele, looper machines and original theatre. Right now, I’m really focused on my trio and getting my original tunes out there in the big old world. I guess my art changes as I do. My messages may have become less brash over the years, but they’re loud and clear: Start changing. The world needs us to.
What inspires your creations?
All of them do have a fundamental framework of exploring myself and the world. Life moments, big transitions and all kinds of emotions inspire outpours of artwork. Sometimes ridiculous moments inspire songs too, like standing with some college friends on a geological feature called an esker and thinking about the ice age.
What do you do when you are feeling uninspired?
Hardly do I feel uninspired. But when those rare moments occur, I just go to the woods and sit by rivers. They fill me up and open me up to listening. An elder told me about the importance of listening. And so I listen. Inspiration can come from a falling leaf.
If you could have coffee with one artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Alfred Hitchcock, because he is sooo creepy. I would be in suspense just watching him stir in a lump of sugar.
What is something you have always wanted to try artistically? Why?
I’ve always wanted to try a lot of things and I usually get around to trying most of them. Recently, I’ve wanted to play the bass. I just wnat to bow my head, let my hair fall in front of my face and rock out in the background. I’ve also wanted to make a movie… a suspenseful one… and its musical score.
Why did you apply to be involved in Luna? Were you involved last year?
I applied for Luna again because it was sooo much fun last year! I couldn’t resist. Luna offers such a neat act of community created public art in a small town setting. I really enjoyed the ambiance and the people’s eager participation in these interactive art installations. Our trio’s audiences vibed on the love waves with us, at every note, every drop, and in the end isn’t that not what coming together is all about?
Find out more about LUNA here.