News 11’s Adonis Albright talks to the artist about how she’s changing the desert in the southwest, brushstroke by brushstroke
YUMA, Arizona (KYMA, KECY) – If you know Yuma art, you know Lia Littlewood. Your name stands for creative expression and plays a crucial role in shaping our local art scene.
“We come from a long line of artists in my family, my great-grandfather John Magnus Johnson was a sculptor,” said Littlewood.
She is a renowned artist who shaped Yuma and its rich local art scene, be it on canvas, a sculpture, or a fascinating mural.
“When I went to college everyone told me you have to make money and all that stuff so you won’t make it as an artist. And I always felt, um, I guess. And so, good. I will try to become a nurse. So I tried to be a nurse and then I kept going back to art and what I’m grateful for for the nursing part is that I was able to learn every muscle in the body, which made it easier to sculpt and paint. “
Littlewood started her career at the downtown Yuma Art Center. But her passion quickly grew outside the walls of the venue. It’s a passion she cultivated and started her own CoOp in hopes of expanding Yuma’s local art scene for all. But like countless other things in the past year, this CoOp also fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We opened Littlewood Fine Art and Community Co-op in April 2017 and it was in a cool old warehouse that we turned into a great art studio. That ran for a couple of years, but it was membership based. Then we got the chance to move to Main St. and then we moved to Main St. and it was a wonderful year and then COVID happened. And so the memberships were completely removed, and that makes sense because we are a gallery and an event center. You can’t have real art shows or music shows during a pandemic, so we had to make the final call to shut it down. “
Now Littlewood and her husband Isaac are working to open a new venue called The Jungle from the comfort of their home.
“But that shed some light on Isaac and I, because we worked 16 hours a day for free, five days a week. We just didn’t have time for ourselves and we didn’t have time for our jungle either. We decided to close it down and work on our family … We love people so we want to make this place better. We do shows, art shows, music shows and the like and we’re building a stage and we’re just excited to open again. ”
Littlewood’s art spans far and wide, from Yuma International Airport to street art to the walls of Arizona Western College. With such an impressive range of projects and art styles, it’s no wonder it’s so well known both domestically and across the country.
“It is definitely a pillar in the art scene. She always has, she knows resources, she has people, she knows how to help and she wants to help. That’s the beauty of having someone like her in Yuma. It’s amazing, “said Kathryn McSwain, a local artist who also works as Littlewood’s assistant.
Perhaps the most impressive accomplishment Littlewood has under his belt: She has completed nearly 200 murals, if not more, in her lifetime. But it doesn’t stop there.
“I have a life goal of 1,000 and it seems to be going faster. It used to take me months to do a mural and now it takes a couple of hours. “
Littlewood is largely responsible for Yuma’s booming local arts scene, for which she has an infinite appreciation and enthusiasm.
“Meeting these people and being around and just engulfing your city the way I want Yuma to be successful and grow so much and I really enjoy how much it has changed in 10 years . “
To learn more about Littlewood’s work, visit her website or find her on Facebook and Instagram at @lialittlewood.
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