Open Portfolio: Artist Randiesia Fletcher
Nov 30, 2024 10:00AM ● By Suzie Agrillo
Artist Randiesia Fletcher spent her childhood living in Los Angeles’ Skid Row slums, unhoused or in crime infested neighborhoods with drug-addicted parents. After completing high school, she moved away from Los Angeles and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
When she was medically retired from the Marine Corps in Tucson in 2005, this talented artist decided to use her art as mental health therapy to escape her past. This decision would change the trajectory of her life. Today, she is an accomplished expressionist artist who crafts colorful, beautiful paintings.
Fletcher’s “Living2Portraits” artwork challenges the perceptions of Pan-African faces, particularly a non-smiling face. Her goal is to redefine these faces that have been stereotyped as thugs, criminals, harlots and Jezebels. The collection eases the fears of normal facial expressions, the expressions of culture, family, community and nationality—a message in line with the ideas of contemporary art in the 21st century.
Fletcher has a deep passion to help other people like her, whose lives have been impacted by trauma. Her message of resilience? Never give up.
Q&A with Artist Randiesia Fletcher
What do you remember about liking art from an early age?Art initially started as my mental health therapy. It was an escape from poverty, crime and from those close to me who suffered from substance abuse disorder. I liked art (visual and written) because it gave me a life beyond the reality of my everyday existence.
My first educational experience came from a woman named Dawn. She saw my talents and decided to teach me the basics of oil painting. The first thing we did was go to an art store where she bought me paint brushes, oil paints, lava soap, turpentine and canvas. I worked on my gift until I went into high school where I took a visual arts class, and that’s where I continued with painting and sculpture.
Since then, I have taken a variety of art classes from artists around the world. As an anthropologist, I have studied the history of art and how it’s made. My work is an auto-ethnography. My undergraduate work from the University of Arizona is in creative writing and anthropology. My graduate work from the University of Phoenix is in creative education.
The history and legacy of my family and my community give me ideas about which art projects I want to create. So, my first step is research. I research a topic and see the correlation between that topic and my community and that’s when I begin to write a story and create the images that correspond.
My goal is to explore cultural phenomenon through my firsthand experiences. I use my personal experiences to articulate broader social, cultural and political meetings. My research and artwork are influenced by the anthropological investigations of Zora Neal Hurston, and the literature of W.E.B. Dubois. Dubois speaks about double consciousness—how people are forced to see themselves through a narrow lens.
People can purchase my art through private sales. They can make an appointment with me in person or virtually. Contact me via social media or email.
My art is a message for social change because it asks us to reconsider the negative ideas and images and stereotypes. Let’s try to build a bridge of understanding. In what ways are we similar and different? Be okay with the differences and okay with the similarities. Let humans be humans without imposing our ways for superiority. Remember, it’s alright to disagree with each other, but it’s how we manage it that counts.
Art is a healing mechanism, and I am living proof that it works. Before I knew about the value of art therapy, I engaged in art to help me process critical situations with my family. We are not meant to hold onto stress without a release. When pressure builds up in the earth, an eruption is inevitable—lava flows, geysers eject water and the earth shakes violently. Our mental health suffers when we do not have avenues of release and escape. Rage, violence and self-harm are all indicative of unresolved conflict, issues and problems. Making art is a healthy way to release and escape from these harmful scenarios.
The Urban Forest Project is a social initiative identifying the causes of hunger and making food more available through food forests in lower income communities. Our goal is to help people adapt to the changing world by reducing the Tucson heat island effect by caring for our soil, planting edible trees and shrubs—a food forest.
In our former low-income housing community, we reduced energy consumption by 25-50% by retrofitting an existing home with energy efficient windows and appliances. We were credited with a Green Leader’s Certificate. Though the original landscape of our project is gone, we still raise goats and grow a garden in which we share food, seeds and goats with those interested in learning.
I have written many books, but I’ve only published two, which are available on Amazon. Scratches, Needles, and the Glass Pipe: Coping with Rejection, Hurt, and Abandonment, and Social Mindfulness: Child Soldiers. I also write corresponding stories to all of my artwork.
I’m excited about my newest book which details a qualitative study on the physical outcomes of multiple personality disorders. The book is a case study that has corresponding oil pastel images that match the personality traits. I’ve been a busy person researching, finding photos and drawing.
I work with homeless people, displaced individuals, a lot of people in the international communities and people who are just challenged with life as a whole. That is my passion—to go out there and to be an advocate for those who are not at their best right now.
Connect with Randiesia Fletcher by email at [email protected] or on Instagram, @portraits_of_sustainability.
Artist Randiesia Fletcher [11 Images]
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Deadline March 10th. Email 
