|
"I paint what I feel strongly about. I feel strongly about a lot of things. I have sought to make visible my feelings because I think it is important to continuously awaken consciousness, my own and my audience. Feelings lead to action and we must examine, always what action we choose to take. Only with a sense of others and the worlds around us, past, present, and future, can we make rational and relevant moves in our lives. My art is dedicated to that awakening. " Mana Lesman began drawing and painting in the mountains of Montana where she grew up. Having spent the early sixties studying art and architecture at Denver University, Kansas State University and Kansas City Art Institute, the artist traveled across the United States observing people and making sketches. In 1964 she settled in Chicago where she worked the next seven years as a product designer. During this time, she turned her artistic skills toward recording the scenes and the people of Chicago. To the people of the area she was known as 'la Pintora'- " The Lady Painter " and was often found in the school yards or side streets painting in watercolor or oil. Ms Lesman began exhibiting in 1976 and has since had some 50 on woman shows in the U.S. and Canada and surrounding communities. Her work is currently in galleries in Billings and may be seen on the Internet. In 1978, while Fine Arts Director for Elixir Gallery in Chicago, she received an Award of Men't from the Cultural Citizen's Foundation. She an award for poster design commemorating Universal Human Rights from the World Without War Committee, Midwest the same year. She received awards in 1981 and 1982 from the City of Chicago for work exhibited in the Palmer Square Festivals in those years and has received Grand Champion and First Place awards for her paintings at Montana Fair in Billings for a number of years. Ms Lesman has designed and directed the painting of two murals in Chicago, " The People of Richmond Street United," 1979, funded by the Illinois Art Council; and " Mujeres Latinas en Accion" - "Latin Women in Action," 1982-83. She served as juror for city and community sponsored art exhibits and instructed art and dance in Chicago Public Schools. In 1980, '81, and '82, Ms Lesman received monies from the Chicago Council on Fine Arts to teach visual art workshops to the young people and subsequently served on a panel to select recipients for similar grants. In 1985, Ms Lesman returned to her birthplace, Billings, Montana with her family. She has continued painting and has taught at West Park Village, Billings Community Center, Lockwood School, Young Artists' Studio, Growth Thru Art and for Billings Parks and Recreation Department. In 1988 she received a grant from the Montana Children's Trust Fund to produce silk screen posters on child abuse. She has also produced the Billings Art Gallery Guide, and coordinated the fine arts component of the Senior Sports and Arts Festival in 1997 and 1998. Ms Lesman is dedicated to seeing arts reach out to the community in every possible way. Her direction has been to raise people's consciousness, to enhance their understanding of their roots, their beliefs, their labor and ultimately themselves through art. Mana Lesman's work may be viewed on the Internet at: www.staggeringox.com
|