A rubber head which lived in my studio(s) for about a year while living in New York. This rubber head got all kinds of strange remarks. I got it because when I moved to New York, I curated and produced an art show entitled “CHAMPIONS” which was the launch of an initiative my family started in collaboration with my dad, former light heavyweight world champion boxer, Donny Lalonde, to raise awareness and funds to support retired boxers with health and wealth issues. Part of this event was an exhibition fight where my dad got in the ring with renowned performance artist David Leslie “The Impact Artist”. David and my dad came up with an idea for my dad to be styled like he was back in his “Golden” years, blonde mullet and all. The rubber head is what the blonde wig came on which was custom made to look like my dad’s hair in the 80s. David asked me to paint the head to look like my dad, so I did and it was signed by myself, my dad, David Leslie and world renowned art writer, cartoonist and curator Anthony Haden-Guest. I carried that head around with me to the 5+ apartments I lived in around 3 of New York’s boroughs between 2023-2024.
Describe your ideal workspace in three words…
Spacious, bright and accessible.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
To keep going with my art no matter what anyone says, value what I’m making as pieces of history and to do mirror work until I can wholeheartedly state the appraised value of my art with an unshakeable inner knowing that I have earned the positioning which I currently exist within with my work.
Where did you find the courage to follow your own path?
I was raised by an unconventional family of achievers of excellence who taught me that I can do whatever I set my heart and mind to. This is a miraculous blessing which I’m aware that so many people are not born with. When I was little, my family went to see a healer in the jungle who had healed many people from terminal illnesses with his hands. When he went to work on my feet, he didn’t find any issues (probably because I was about 7 years old.” When my parents asked him what he sensed about me he said “Ella tiene valor!” This can translate to worth or courage. I have always had a way of boldly going for my dreams. It’s taken me a few decades to get clear on the vision for my dream life and an immense amount of blood, sweat and tears to get to where I am now. I know it’s just the beginning. After experiencing quite a lot of trauma in life, I became clear that there is a beautiful life I will create for myself, regardless of circumstances and I refuse to settle for less. My main driver is that I want to have children and in order to do that, I need to feel confident with the world I am passing down to them. This is what drives me every day to wake up and create a world that is more beautiful and loving than the one I found.
What is the most productive practical tip you could impart to a fellow creative?
My dad often says a quote which is “It’s not about what happens in life, it’s about what we do with it.” In my darkest times in life art is what has given me the hope and strength to make it through and to rise beyond my circumstances; as well as being my greatest healer and therapist. I started with some sketches on paper and when one of those sold, I invested that money into bigger supplies from the dollar store; I was finger painting with children’s paint on paper. Over time, as each piece sold, I would reinvest in better materials and produce art shows to share my work with the community around me. My practical tip is, use what you have, upcycle materials you find – “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. There’s no shortage of materials to create with. One of my favorite ways to cook is when I look in the fridge and it seems like there are no ingredients. I then use what I have and get creative. That’s when some of the best meals come through. It’s the same with art. Some of the best feedback I’ve gotten on my art is from that initial series of 7 drawings with pen on paper. So many people say “I wish I was talented” or “I wish I could be an artist”. Making art is one of the most powerful ways to heal and alchemize pain. We all feel pain, we’re human. If you can explore processing that through expression, be it, writing, movement, music, sculpture, painting, drawing… the opportunities are endless; you will find something on the other side of that process which just might surprise you. My first series (7 drawings) which I felt comfortable sharing with the world came from me consciously letting go of any attachment to a specific outcome and being present with the art of expression for cathartic purposes. That’s when my style came through. Just get started. When you feel like the world is too heavy to hold, express yourself. Keep going deeper into yourself no matter how much doubt you have or others impose onto you. Even if the healing is the only thing that comes out of it, that’s worth it. In my experience, a whole career came from it.
What would you tell your 18-year-old self?
Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself like someone you love. The only relevant validation is the kind that comes from within. Stop overthinking your purpose and entire life trajectory. If you take every opportunity that comes your way and resonates with you and show up to the fullest, doing the best you possibly can to rise to the occasion, the path will naturally unfold. Self care is more important than anything else. Energy is everything; when you take care of yourself, everything will align with you that’s in your highest timeline. How people treat you is a reflection of them and not you. You are made of God particles. Cherish yourself as such. Everything that’s meant for you will find its way to you. You are capable of anything and focus is the key to success; whatever that means in your heart. Discernment is key. Not everyone has your best interest in mind. Diligently discern between who is in your life because they genuinely love and care for you and who is in your life because they want something from you. Where your attention goes, energy flows and that grows. You are divinely protected, say it again and stay close to God.
What do you do to centre yourself and find focus?
As a teenager, I was having a tough time in school. My dad took me on a father-daughter road trip and taught me how to meditate. When I returned for 12th grade, I started every day meditating by the water before breakfast. This changed my whole reality. It was as if I suddenly had twice as much time to complete half the amount of tasks (in reality it was less time and more tasks, but the mental clarity made it feel like the inverse). I don’t always remember to meditate but when I do it changes everything for the better. I also became a certified breathwork instructor once I found out that it can physically dissolve trauma from the cells of your body. That’s not all it does though; it also sharpens your focus and regulates your nervous system for optimal function. Art has been my primary tool for centering myself and finding focus. When life feels overwhelming and I feel like I can’t handle it anymore, I turn to my art. Sometimes I dance, occasionally I’ll sing, often I’ll make visual art. More and more I’ve been remembering the importance of consciously exercising.
Does the space you work in have an interesting story?
Over the past year of living in New York, I have worked in so many spaces and in the past decade of making art, the spaces I’ve worked in have been too many to count. Where I work, as well as where I call home, due to the transient nature of my life so far, have been wherever I find myself; I arrange my few treasured personal items, bless the space and that has been where I call home and my studio. The studio pictured in this article was my first apartment and studio in New York where I lived by myself. After a brutal breakup, a friend asked me “if you had no limitations, where would you be and what would you be doing?” To which I answered, I would be living in New York selling my art. A few days later, with $7 in my bank account, I borrowed a few hundred dollars from a friend and booked a ticket from Germany to New York. At first I stayed with a family friend for a few weeks. Then, I sold my car to put the deposit and first month’s rent on this apartment. I made the living room into my studio. In the first month or two, I met a few collectors who ended up collecting my work, which paid my rent. I was living month to month but I had a home to call my own (for the time being) and a space to create. I ended up living in this precious home on Waverly Place for 6 months, within which I created the CHAMPIONS, GRACE & NUBLU series and the first few pieces from EMBRACE. This was arguably the most productive period of my career thus far. I hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and it really felt like my own little home. It was here where I was taught by Brandon Tellez how to oil paint. I made at least the first layer or two of about 60 paintings in that space. That was my first apartment anywhere in the world where I was on the lease and lived by myself. It was my first permanent space to create. That little home on Waverly Place was one of the most pivotal spaces in my life and career development thus far. I had a few panic attacks a month trying to maintain the rent, so eventually I decided to relocate. It was in that apartment where I wrote my first article published in West View News, a local West Village newspaper; the article was on realizing my dreams of being a professional artist in New York City. I am proud of myself for being able to sustain my rent there for 6 months and still leave it better than I found it, as per my mom’s advice growing up. I painted the whole apartment and transformed it into quite the luxury, quaint abode.
I am very dyslexic, I struggled in school until I found photography. I believe a lot of artists are neuro-diverse. Do you have your own story you want to share?
Growing up in a family that was very much in favor of alternative health, I didn’t undergo testing for any of these learning difficulties. I was always quite strong in school but I do remember having difficulties with testing and focus. My work ethic has always been impeccable. As a kid, I wanted to go to Harvard and become an architect (aside from my dreams of being a professional actress and singer – LOL perhaps indicative of a lack of focus). My challenges in school were more focused around social challenges and struggles with authority. I never resonated with the notion “You have to do this because I said so.” I always wanted to understand the logic behind rules and have a sensible dialogue human to human. I never ascribed to the notion that someone determines how things go just because of their title. I was told as a 13 year old “you’re not special just because your parents were famous.” I never thought I was special because my parents were famous. I believe that we are all special because we are unique creations of divinity. My struggles with focus improved with meditation. I later learned that trauma manifests in many ways which we tend to label as specific things. Once I was older and realized that the traumatic events I had experienced contributed to the struggles I had as a young person, I became obsessed with healing trauma which is where art came into my life as a key focal point. I continue to learn that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and we can build on our strengths and weaknesses to become more well rounded humans. Focusing on what we lack doesn’t lead to expansion in my opinion. For example, tedious computer work still makes my head spin. So I practice different techniques to make it more palatable and strengthen my relationship with it, such as taking little breaks in between work sprints and or delegating things to people who have a specific passion in that area. The director of my highschool used to always say “Be who you are”. That saying confused me at the time. Every day of my life I’ve been getting to know myself more while consciously developing into the person I strive to become; where authenticity meets self actualization. Somewhere in there, I come back to the saying “Where your attention goes, energy flows and that grows.” My dad always says “argue for your limitations and you shall have them.” So, informed by this, I choose to be solution oriented and lean into my creativity.”
What are you most proud of in the space?
In this space, I created the preliminary sketches for the majority of the work I produced in the past year. These series were the first time I branched away from nude figure art which was a key focal point in my healing journey. Each series speaks to a different aspect of my personal and creative development. I branched away from acrylic, abstract nude figure painting into collage, oil paint and refinement of my craft. I learned how to paint heads, hands and feet. I used to just paint headless, limbless nude figures. I took this 6 month period to dive deeply into myself and alchemize a lot of pain and fear. On the other side of that was 4 unique series of art portraying specific steps in my evolution as an artist. I also started healing my relationship with my voice by taking vocal lessons. What I am most proud of in this space however was my ability to provide a beautiful home and studio for myself based on my art sales alone. That showed me a very important lesson, which is that I can take care of myself and create a feeling of home based on my core passion and self expression. It has not been a linear path or a smooth one at that, but I did it, and I continue to do it, every day that I wake up and take another step forward, boldly creating my path as an artist.
How would you describe your neighbourhood?
This neighborhood is so quaint and precious. Growing up, I always heard my dad share stories about his time living in the West Village near Washington Square Park when he was at the height of his boxing career. Since then, I’ve been dreaming of living in the West Village. I love the winding streets, the brownstones, the boho-chic people, the jambalaya of creative expression, especially in Washington Square Park. I love the cute little restaurants and especially the live music hubs like Smalls and Bluenote. I ended up befriending a lot of the best musicians in the area and would regularly visit these music hotspots to be serenaded by pure magical excellence. I love that the West Village feels like a little neighborhood, where people recognize and remember each other; even though it’s in the middle of one of the world’s greatest metropolises. People like Willard Morgan, the owner of Ideal Glass Studios on West 8th Street use their platforms to give opportunities to creatives in the community. I produced and curated 3 world class events in this space, featuring about 100 different multidisciplinary artists from New York and abroad and that was possible because Willard and his team believed in my vision and the community. The homelessness and mental health issues which are very visible in the area made me sad, which is why one of those events was dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help support New Yorkers with mental health and homelessness issues. The music video by Bryan Adams entitled “Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son” is very poignant in expressing this issue globally. I love how the community is full of vibrance and a multitude of creatives and wonderful human beings doing what we can to make a positive mark on the world and to uplift the frequency of the planet through creative expression.
What can you see outside your windows?
Outside my windows on Waverly Place I most clearly remember sunshine, quaint little windows into numerous lives and most notably a beautiful red brick building covered in ivy. This felt so New York to me. Sometimes I would just sit in the chair by the window and look out at that building and the New York rooftops and relish in the peace, dozing off in gratitude and pondrance. These moments made the 4 floor walk up worth every trip.
What is your dream project?
I have a few dream projects. Currently it is the one I am working on, entitled EMBRACE. Some people say it’s not very commercially viable because it’s portraying love between people of different ethnic backgrounds but that makes me want to keep developing it even more. I believe we are at a point in human history where it’s time to wake up to the fact that regardless of the skin tones we were born with we are all inherently so similar and we are innately built to love one another. So far I have made about 30 original art pieces, mostly oil on canvas and a few mixed media, portraying humans in loving embraces, which I exhibited in my first New York solo show at Dacia Gallery. I would love to continue to expand on this series and do shows all over the world, get a licensing deal on these so they are price approachable to people at all different economic backgrounds and do a street art campaign, painting these pieces at a huge scale on the side of buildings around the world, planting seeds of love, unity and connection into global collective consciousness. Another dream project is to curate a community of creative, innovative, solution oriented humans to co-create a reality we feel confident in passing down to future generations. I am passionate about developing the Taking Kare of Our Own project with my family and brilliant humans who resonate with the mission of creating regenerative systems to support retired champions in earning fulfilling incomes based on their hard earned legacy and being able to live the best quality of life possible with the assistance of innovative brain health solutions. I believe this can eventually be extended to all humans dealing with the impacts of trauma. I see trauma as a key source of issues worldwide and I see myself facilitating global healing through creative expression and basic biohacking tools, while impacting the world in every way I can through my art to sow seeds of love, unity and connection. There are other dream projects but in essence, this is what drives me.
What is your most important artist’s tool?
My most important artist’s tool is resilience. Being an artist is such an interesting experience. To put your heart and soul into something physical, put a numeric value on it, informed by professional advice, career development and past sales, and then to confidently communicate and stand by that number in the face of collectors who tend to negotiate as far as they possibly can, is a very challenging experience. People have no shortage of feedback and opinions on what and how they think an artist should create. Having the resilience to stay true to what is in my heart and soul, while sustaining being a self-sufficient adult has been quite the marathon. I would say resilience, innovation, teachability and courage are my top 4 most important artist’s tools. If we are talking about something like a physical artist’s tool, I would say my palette knife.
The one practice that has changed your life the most? Meditation, running, writing etc.*
Making art has changed my life the most. In my experience, art is a meditation, therapy, companionship, personal development and a career all in one. Dancing and singing are two other practices that impact my life immensely. When I feel tense in my body or ability to express my thoughts, feelings, dreams, visions, needs and desires, dancing and singing help me to relax and express freely. Breathwork and meditation both have been profound for me. These practices help me to regulate my nervous system, which helps me to move from a balanced space, a clear mind and from optimal functioning. With a regulated nervous system, the perceived need for fight or flight dissipates and one can move consciously. From dissolving trauma to optimal functioning, these, paired with mindset have been essential in my life. If I had to identify one key practice which has had the biggest impact on my life, it is staying close to God. Through all of my highest highs and lowest lows, I pray to God to guide every step of my journey for me to be in the highest service to Divinity and the highest timeline for Mother Earth and Humanity. This has been and continues to be my North Star.
How has a stranger changed your life?
There are a few strangers I would like to refer to here which have changed my life. One was when I was 18, I was backpacking through Europe and the UK and I ended up staying with some Rastas. The mentor whose house it was taught me an immense amount of profound wisdom, but one key one was the power of breath and regulating one’s nervous system for personal autonomy. This learning came into play more as years went on when I dove into breathwork. Another stranger who impacted my life immensely was an elderly Chinese woman. I was developing a media outlet which highlights projects people are doing which impact the world in a positive way. I was interviewing her to be a contributor to the media outlet. She had spent years of her life building a magazine about Chinese culture. At some point, she fell ill with Cancer. After recovery, her whole team had fallen apart. She told me “Don’t waste your time stressing about what you’re supposed to do with your life. Just take each opportunity that comes your way and do your best to deliver with excellence. The path will naturally unfold.” These are words of wisdom that I live by to this day.
