SPECIAL REPORT: Into ‘The Jungle” with local Yuma artist Lia Littlewood
News 11's Adonis Albright speaks with the artist about how she's changing the desert southwest one brush stroke at a time
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - If you know Yuma art, then you know Lia Littlewood. Her name is synonymous with creative expression, playing an instrumental 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 has made her mark on Yuma and its rich local art scene, whether it be on canvas, a sculpture or a captivating mural.
“So when I was going to college, everyone tells me, you know, you have to make money, and all that stuff, so you’re not going to make it as an artist. And I always kind of felt like, eh, I guess. And so like, fine. I’ll try to be a nurse. So I tried to be a nurse, and then I just kept reverting back to art, and what I’m thankful for the nursing part is that I was able to learn every muscle of the body, so it made it easier to sculpt and paint.”
Littlewood first started her career at the Yuma Art Center in downtown. But her passion quickly grew outside the walls of the venue. It's a passion that she cultivated, creating her own CoOp with the hopes of expanding Yuma's local art scene for all to enjoy. But like countless other things over this past year, that CoOp also became a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We opened Littlewood Fine Art and Community Co-op in April of 2017, and it was in a cool old warehouse that we transformed into an awesome art studio. That was running for a few years, but it was membership-based. Then we had the opportunity to move down to Main St., so then we moved down to Main St., and it was a wonderful year, and then COVID happened. And so, memberships dropped completely, and it makes sense because the fact that we are a gallery and an event center. You can’t really have art shows and you can’t really have music shows during a pandemic, and so we had to make the final call to close it down.”
Now, Littlewood and her husband Isaac are working to launch a new venue from the comfort of their own home -- named The Jungle.
"But in that brought light to Isaac & I finding ourselves again, because we were working 16 hours a day for free, five days a week. We just didn’t have time for ourselves and we also didn’t have time for our jungle. And so, we decided let’s close it down, start working on our family… We love people, that’s why we want to make this place better. We do shows, art shows, music shows, stuff like that and we’re building a stage, and we’re just excited to open back up.”
Littlewood's art reaches far and wide, from the Yuma International Airport, to street art, and even the walls of Arizona Western College. With such an impressive range of projects and art styles, it's little wonder why she's become so well known both at home and around the country.
“She definitely is a pillar in the art community. She’s been doing it forever, she knows resources, she has people, she knows the help, and she wants to help. That’s the beautiful part of having someone like her in Yuma. It’s amazing", said Kathryn McSwain, a local artist who also works as an assistant to Littlewood.
Perhaps the most impressive feat Littlewood has under her belt: she's completed nearly 200 murals, if not more, in her lifetime. But she's not stopping there.
“I have a lifetime goal of 1,000, and it seems to be going faster. Like, before it would take me months to do a mural, and now it takes a couple hours."
Littlewood is in large part responsible for Yuma's booming local art scene, something she has an endless appreciation and excitement for.
“Meeting these people and being around and just fully engulfing yourself in your town, like I want Yuma to succeed and it’s growing up so much, and I really enjoy, you know, how- how much it’s changed in 10 years."
To find out more about Littlewood's work, you can visit her website or find her on Facebook and Instagram at @lialittlewood.
