It's possible you've seen a lively looking taxicab driving around Charleston for the past few months.
The art cab was part of a FestivALL design competition called "Driven by Design," during which artists could submit their ideas that would eventually wrap around one of the cabs at C&H Taxi.
Staci Leech-Cornell, who lives and makes art in Nitro, was chosen for the honor. Her cab was unveiled during FestivALL in June and features a cartoon-ish cityscape with her signature animal characters.
"I like to say that the animals I grew up with, I've kind of created my own menagerie with them," Leech-Cornell said.
She described her illustrations as whimsical. Leech-Cornell said she believes using animals instead of humans to depict "things we go through" makes her art and those topics more approachable.
Leech-Cornell grew up in Greenbrier County and was part of a family of creators. Her mother and grandmother crocheted. Her grandmother also quilted. Creativity was encouraged in her home, especially by her mother.
"A lot of people try to sway their children from that kind of passion in pursuit of something more lucrative, but she was very keen on knowing that's something that would be very successful with me," Leech-Cornell said.
Leech-Cornell studied art at Marshall University. She received her master's degree in sculpture and stayed in the area when her mother passed away in 2002. She met her husband and has continued to make art throughout the region.
While Leech-Cornell once worked in three dimensions, she found it difficult to continue sculpting after graduating. When in school, she had easier access to space, tools and materials through the university.
She decided to return to her first love: drawing.
The Driven by Design competition was a great way to combine her two- and three-dimensional skills. Leech-Cornell submitted designs for the taxi with its shape in mind.
"It really did challenge your way of thinking, because you had to wrap the entire car. It wasn't just this flat piece. You had to stretch all of the individual pieces that you were bringing aboard the vehicle," Leech-Cornell said.
She also was drawn to the project, which she described as "a moving canvas," because of its constantly changing audience.
"I really wanted to try to create a subject matter that would be interesting, a little quirky and something that would make people really want to talk and really just try to engage with it," she said.
Leech-Cornell said she wants to see a whole fleet of art taxis.
"I think Charleston needs that punch of liveliness," she said, "and I think that would be a great opportunity for everyone."
Reach Rachel Molenda at rachel.molenda@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5102 or follow @rachelmolenda on Twitter.