Semeion Richardson celebrates 2nd anniversary at downtown Leesburg's Artist with a Purpose

A decade-long road of creating art, outreach and making connections led to Artist with a Purpose opening in downtown Leesburg two years ago this month.

Artist with a Purpose is the first Black-owned gallery in Lake, Marion and Sumter counties, and its CEO/founder, Semeion Richardson, is celebrating her second year running the space in downtown Leesburg this week. The nonprofit gallery, education and event space opened its doors to the public on Nov. 17, 2021.

Over the past two years, Artist with a Purpose has exposed visitors of all ages to art while enticing people who would otherwise be uninterested in art to participate in creativity and fun activities for all ages.

Events can include everything arts and cultural on all sides of the spectrum, from a fine art exhibition to painting classes to karaoke nights.

Before she ran the gallery (and still today), the 43-year-old arts pioneer visited neighborhood parks, schools, churches and community centers countywide, engaging kids in creating art of all genres. Even though she has a brick-and-mortar space, she stills travels to other locations for group art sessions and provides leadership and art therapy and classes integrating art, dance, music and theater.

Over the past month, Richardson has averaged three schools a day. She started out around a decade ago operating a mobile art bus with the Leesburg Center for the Arts with then-director Amy Painter, one of her staunchest supporters and prime motivators, and later struck out on her own.

Five years ago, a life event shook the mixed-media artist to her core but more deeply defined her mission: Her mom died of ovarian cancer at age 62. Richardson cherished their relationship, and coping with her loss instilled in her the healing power of art.

Today, she offers therapeutic art to children and adults coping with trauma, visiting group homes and other facilities throughout Lake County. She also works as a life coach for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

"I found out that the loss of my mom helped me," Richardson shared. "I realized that I can help people with this. This is good. I can do something with this."

Richardson is able to pass on what she learned from her mother to her two daughters: Eaireyana, 20, and Kimora, who recently celebrated her 15th birthday.

A recipient of the Leesburg Area Chamber of Commerce's Arts & Culture Award, Richardson has a bachelor's degree in human services with a focus on behavior analysis. She later got a master's degree in organizational leadership.

Richardson has posted on social media that she'd like to organize the painting of more murals around Leesburg. This weekend she'll be at Montclair Village with a group of painters. Kids can even participate with little touches such as handprints.

Almost every time we check in with Richardson, she has a new project in the works. Some are continuations of past successes.

"We have this awesome event called 'Worship through Arts,' " she effused. "Now, this is the most amazing thing for people that love music, and everybody loves Christmas, but it's nothing like a traditional choir concert.

"I go to all of these churches such as Citadel of Hope, Frontier Church and other Senda Church, a multicultural/Spanish house of worship are participating, and I get all of these different choirs together, and they all sing different songs, worship songs and then we have artists that paint around them live at the same time. ... Salvation Army is gonna host for me this year. They did it last year, which was a great success."

The multi-tiered art event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Salvation Army at 2605 South St., Leesburg.

"We've got a lot," Richardson said with a smile and a sigh. "We've got a lot of things going on. There's the Haitian cultural Festival that's coming up next year, too. We're gonna have it on Feb. 25, right here, in the downtown 'Burg."

Before that, she hopes to reprise the Soul Fest she first organized last year after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade, also in downtown Leesburg.

What started Richardson on an artistic path?

A teacher recognized her potential once and steered into a life of impassioned creativity and a sense of purpose.

"As a teenager, I was impatient," Richardson admitted. "I didn't want to make art. When I had to make art for school, I just threw it all away."

When the irreverent adolescent threw her work in the trash, she didn't know that her high school art teacher (the late, beloved Jan Smith at Leesburg High) was taking them out.

One retrieved still life featured varieties of texture, a little tissue paper, pastels. Its rescue would change the course of Richardson's life, all thanks to Ms. Smith.

"She came to my job at Shoney's one day and she was like, 'You won.' I was like, 'I won?'

"I said, 'What, what are you talking about? I never enter anything.'

"And she was like, 'Oh, I've been entering your stuff in contests.' So, I got a gold key award from Lake County and I got a gold key award from Disney. And my picture made it to nationals."

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The validation of Richardson's mixed-media talents and overall experience made Richardson realize that she was somewhat of a unicorn. Such enriching, recognition-centered experiences around art didn't happen often in her community.

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So, she decided to help create those affirming, a-ha moments for others.

"I started with $10 in my pocket," she said matter-of-factly, "and then just went out and just started painting with the kids."

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Semeion Richardson toasts her space's second year in downtown Leesburg