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Leya Evelyn

I was born in Washington, D.C., and have lived up and down the east coast, until settling here. I was educated at Brown and Yale Universities. At Yale, I studied under Josef Albers.

I moved to rural Nova Scotia from NYC in 1984 and taught at NSCAD University for twenty year. For an artist, this is a good place to live. Spacious and quiet. Despite the beautiful scenery and frequently grey skies, my abstract paintings focus on color, its expressive qualities and how it creates form and space.

Main exhibitions include The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, Secord Gallery in Halifax, Orange Gallery in Ottawa, Gallerie Halde in Switzerland, and Galleri Saltum in Denmark. An elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, I’ve received grants from provincial and federal agencies, including a Canada Council Established Artist Grant in 2000.

Artist Statement

The primary focus of my artwork has consistently been abstract painting. My work is about colour: how it takes form, creates space, provokes emotion and challenges perception. The painting process--the marks, colour and the impact of these--becomes the image itself, without literal reference. It seeks to evoke uncensored memories and states of mind: exploring possibilities, imaginings and openings.

The process begins images drawn from personal experience: from old family photographs or of people currently in my life. Inspired by these images and emotions they fuel, I write and draw over them. I then work into them with colour. The writing becomes buried beneath the paint. The texture, visual impact and depth of the many layers of materials and concepts capture the complexity of life. Together, paint, collage, words, form and texture build up into a density that reveals a deeper, nonliteral, experience.

As the layers accumulate, imageless forms become the wordless language of emotion. Removed from specific contextual references, these works become a metaphor for the elusiveness of knowledge and experience.

5.Leya Evelyn09
Sale price$15,500.00 USD