We had the good fortune of connecting with MoNique LeRoux and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi MoNique, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Relizing how diving deeper into yourself you can unlock so many more ideas and creativity that is very unique to you. Authenticity matters and how you share yourself with others can directly make an impact on your busienss and brand. Once I decided to focus more on what I love about life and the ideas I had, I began to see a change in the way collectors, customers and other artists interacted with me. Things instantly began to feel more natural and passion filled.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m mainly a mixed media artist. I just like to make things into other things in a sense. I love making abstract expression the most. I moved to Houston in 2016 to pursue a part time career as an artist. I loved it so much I moved to full time status in mid 2018 and have been continuously learning and growing since. This year seemed to be up until the onset of covid. A lot of art events for the year have gone away for now and a lot of us are not sure if they will even return. As an artist, you can only imagine how disappointing this is, a lot of artists make a large portion of thier income from these events. However, I was determined to find a way to keep active in the art community even without events. I had an idea to maybe make a film and just show our collectors and followers something positive and fun. What started out as a goofy little passion project amongst a few art friends grew into a huge local success for the Houston art community. I decided to do a film project called, Meet Houston’s Artists. A Docuseries Painting the Art Journey of Artists in Houston, Texas: An underground artist tells the stories of many multi-level career artists continuing to create amid COVID-19, Economic downfall & a country divided in Houston, Texas, USA. From painting out of their living rooms, doing pop-up art shows, and festivals to having a studio space in differing areas of the city. Each artist has their own story to how they got started in the city of Houston as artists and we will visit some of those locations and see how they are managing the mess, that is, 2020. We launched and had a successful fully funded KickStarter campaign and now we have concluded filming and are moving into post production. It is truly exciting to see a group of living artists unify to continue to share the art with the community even if we are physically apart from one another. The experience of documenting this history happening in Houston has taught me that we all just want to be happy and on our personal paths to figuring out what that may be. I believe equally, a lot the artists share some similar thougts when they were interviewed during the filming. The series will be live streamed via all of MHA’s social media platforms, this way we can share our content and all tune in together. The episode schedule has been released so look for an artist or few that you may already know. The series will beging streaming November 10th 2020 at 5pm Central.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This would be such a fun question if covid wasn’t such a force it is now however, the positive here is I have been forced to explore more things outside and I’d love to share my new quilty pleasures. I love the Urban Harvest Farmer’s Market located at 3000 Richmond Avenue. I do enjoy Buffalo Bayou Park, it’s my favorite. It has some of the most breath taking views of the Houston Skyline. For the art things I would say definitely go to Grafitti Park located on Leeland Street, downtown Houston. Check out, Second Saturdays at Sawyer Yards for their open studios. Lots of talented artists and different kinds of art that will blow you away. My favorite place to grab tacos is over in the Heights, and it’s called Catina Barba, you can pick up or dine outside, socially distant of course. The margaritas are next level awesome.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d love to give a shout to the city of Houston for so many opportunities and experiences along the way and I’d love to give a shout out to my art mentor, John Ross Palmer in the Heights.

Website: LerouxArt.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mo_lerouxart/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monique-leroux-191801184/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MoLeRouxArt
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMa__eo4fum7HanXQX2r0zA

Image Credits
Mo LeRoux Art

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