Making a lot of progress today.
My name is Leah Tinari, and
I'm a painter, illustrator, and author.
Being able to express yourself,
and make a statement through your art
is a really fun and interesting way of doing it.
My work has always been based on my life,
sort of the stuff in it and the people in it.
As I became a mother and working in New York City,
I started sort of focusing a little bit more on my son
and the things that he was interested in,
and this sort of led me into making children's books.
I'll be creating a mural for the Rachael Ray Show's
holding room for the guests,
and it's inspired by my new book, Limitless;
24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts.
The mural I'll be creating will be 14 women,
some living and some not:
Lucille Ball, Aretha Franklin, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Chloe Kim, Michelle Obama ...
And then there will be one space left for the guests
to insert themselves, so they become sort of part
of this limitless pool of remarkable women.
With this mural, my hope is that women are celebrating
each other, and they're lifting each other up
and working together rather than tearing each other down.
If my art can be contributing to that dialogue,
I think that's really good.
Isn't she cool?
I was just complementing Leah on her swanky, sharp
outfit here; it's a matching sweater set with bell bottoms,
and she said, "I showed my husband a picture of what
I was wearing. He said, 'You look like a little, hot
Cookie Monster.'"
(audience laughs)
I love that, so cute!
So this is one of Leah's children's books, yes?
Limitless; 24 Remarkable American Women
of Vision, Grit, and Guts.
I just love that that even exists.
Yes.
Thank you. Yes.
How did you pick your 24?
Well, that was probably the most difficult part,
was editing down the 24 women,
To 24 women, right?
Yeah because, it truly is limitless- the title
speaks for itself. The amount of incredible women
doing amazing things, is really hard to- you know,
To boil it down, right, to pick and choose?
Exactly, so I had to make it a little more personal,
and that was the direction that I went in.
So what was your process in making the piece
that we're featuring on our walls here at the show?
You said you did part of it in your studio.
Yes, so we did a few days in the studio.
So it was just a big canvas
that I spray painted the back of,
and then with acrylic paint, painted the portraits,
which I ended up finishing here, and-
At the installation,
I love that you let people stand in it.
It was so great that-
So cool, so that they could become a part of it.
Yeah, it's like being able to interact with it
and becoming one of the remarkable women, or men.
Aw, so cool!
And often I don't get to work that large,
So that was really exciting for you guys
to give me that opportunity, so that was really fun.
Why do you think it is, women are only
five percent of the world's art?
(Scoff) I mean...
And do you feel, that as an artist,
that that's changing, is that tide turning?
I mean, slowly.
Slowly.
But yeah, you go here to the Met,
and you can see a lot of
female figures everywhere,
That's right
throughout the museum. But how many actual artists,
female artists, are represented, their art. It's shocking.
And same thing in the gallery world,
I mean, it's a boys club.
And same thing in professional kitchens, you've-
Yes, of course, my mom is a chef,
and I grew up in the restaurant business...
Exactly, it's very underrepresented,
but we're gonna do something about that.
At least here in our building.
Yeah, yeah.
So if you come to our show, check out Leah's work.
And Leah, did you bring enough of these for the whole class?
Yeah, we brought a book for everyone-
And there's enough of these for the whole class,
everybody gets to go home with a copy of the book
to empower the young women in your lives,
and as you head out, remember to take a picture
with her wall and become-
Yes, please.
a limitless lady yourself. Or gentleman.
We have gentlemen here too! A few of them.
Exactly, yeah.
Thanks so much, Leah.
Thank you (kisses) thank you so much.
Grab a stack, or call your mom and tell her
she's limitless, we'll see you when we see you,
everybody. Bye bye!
(Cheering and clapping)