About Leah
More than anything, I simply offer good intentions to the world through my work. As a painter, I take the tactile visual experiences that excite me (often textures, color combinations, animal figures...) and I use them to dream up enticing ideas that I've never seen before (lately, off the wall ideas that make me laugh out loud).
I have not had much formal training in painting, but that is not to say I did this on my own. I graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a major in Philosophy and a major in Fine Art with an emphasis in sculpture and ceramics from Coe College in 2005. I learned a bit of color theory with Peter Thompson, drawing with Priscilla Steele, and took many sculpture and ceramic classes with the art department chair, John Beckleman who taught me a great deal about the elements and principles of design for 3-d artwork. He spent a lot of time talking open-mindedly with me about art and philosophy. To round out the end of my BA, I wrote an introspective senior thesis called “Truth and Artifact,” that details my time in college and my journey to understand art at the time. I shared the Marvin Cone Prize for outstanding senior body of work for my sculpture and drawings. I spent a semester in New York and apprenticed to Sculptors Romelo Del Dio and Lee Tribe. While there, I went to many museums and performances and frequently drew at the Art Student's League and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More recently, I received some helpful guidance from my friend and master portrait painter Duffy Sheridan before he moved to Oregon. I've taken some portrait classes periodically from the Scottsdale Artist School, and I gather a lot of helpful guidance from listening to Jeff Hein's podcast the Undraped Artist.
My original artwork is collected by people with a sense of humor and appreciation for fine details all across the United States and prints and books have been sent to collectors throughout the world.
In 2018, I designed a 200 x 5 foot steel and stained glass fence that surrounds the Art Museum in Casa Grande, Arizona. The building is on the national register of historic places. The fence and I were featured on the Casa Grande episode of Arizona Highways TV in 2020. I made a little documentary tribute to the volunteers who made the project possible, and you can view it here: Art Museum Restoration Short - YouTube
In 2022, I put together a book of my paintings entitled "There Will Be Nonsense" The book contains 30 full color paintings. Each painting is paired with a fun answerless question. It doubles as a conversation starting coffee table book or a special children's picture book. The book won the 2023 Best Independent Book Award (BIBA) for Illustration. BIBA is an international competition for independently published books. Get a copy here: Books – Artifact Fine Art (artifactfa.com)
In addition to painting, I make silly little animated videos that feature my paintings and post them on social media. I also post works in progress. You can find my videos and posts on instagram: @artifactfineart, facebook: @artifactfineart and youtube:
