Featuring International Artist Lee Bowers

Recently my friend Lee Bowers was in town for the opening of her fine art exhibit at MLB Designs and Boutique in the Kansas City Arts District. It was so good to catch up with her.  Please enjoy our conversation, some of her fabulous art, as well as her new venture!

Lee's art will be on exhibit for the month of October and I will also include her own website links below.

1) Lee, when did you first become interested in the arts and find that you had a creative side to unleash on the world?

When I was 8 my Mother commissioned a very well known Topeka portrait artist, Margaret Wakeman, for portraits of my older brother and myself.  I sat for her in her studio and she showed me her materials and talked about her techniques.  I told my parents that day that I wanted to be an artist just like her.  Taking me seriously, and also because we have other professional women artists in the family, they signed me up for drawing classes at Washburne University on Saturdays.  I never changed my mind and the the skills came naturally to me.

Artist Lee Bowers

2) Do or did you have mentors who encouraged your interest in art?

All of my teachers encouraged my talents in drawing and painting through grade school up through graduate school.  Mentors though were only three, Larry Schoulder, my printmaking teacher at SMU, Carmelita Maracci, my ballet teacher for ten years after Cal-Arts in Los Angeles, and Jules Engel, my animation mentor at CalArts.   

Carmelita possessed a brilliant mind and took me under her guidance regarding, not only dance and music, but also art history and philosophy and literature.  She was great friends with artists such as Frieda Kahlo, Rico LeBruen, and Edward Weston.  While in graduate school at CalArts I had the great pleasure to have Jules Engel as my official mentor.  He was from Budapest and after escaping to Hollywood, was hired by Disney to design for Fantasia.   

Mentor Carmelita Maracci

3) Are there certain artists past or present that you especially admire?

I admire many artists and it is always changing depending on who I have been exposed to.  In the early days, Georgia O'Keefe, of course, and I visited her home and studio in 1978.  Early also are MC Escher, Magritte, Goya, and all of the french landscape artists like Millet etc.  

Later I fell for the abstract expressionists and today I love April Gornik's landscapes, Walton Ford's wild and provocative watercolors....and a French painter on my SpartaApp, Patrick Boussignac....truly the finest Surrealist Figurative artist living today.  John Singer Sargent, Edwin Church, Helen Frankenthaler, Motherwell, Hudson River School gang, Degas.....I also have great admiration for Kansas artist and friend, Lisa Grossman.  This could go on and on...but not now.

Cerro Gordo

4) You have lived in many wonderful cities around the world, How did this inspire you art? What else inspires you to create paintings?

My inspiration has always been nature.  Wherever I am the landscape wraps around me and then I interpret.  It is very simple. Additional Landscape Influences:  Bierstadt, David Hockney, the skies of Gainsborough.

Flint Hills

Seated Clouds

5) Lee, would you tell our readers about your exciting venture, Gallerie Sparta?

I co-owned Gallerie Sparta in West Hollywood with my partner, Stephan Sparta.  We represented both International established artists and celebrity artists...and me, of course.  It was a wild ride.  Google Gallerie Sparta to see thirteen pages of our openings and press.  We even held an exhibit of the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian paintings....yes he painted...and quite well. 

In addition, my personal website is http://leebowersart.com/ 
Our online site is Gallerie Sparta

6) What else is in the works for the near future, upcoming exhibits, etc? I know you are the featured artist at MLB Designs & Boutique for the month of October, for anyone in the Kansas City area.

SpartaApp, SpartaApp, SpartaApp.  We launched our new International Art App that connects collectors directly to artists....worldwide in March and are very much consumed with it.

       

You buy directly from our artists without any commissions.  We empower artists in over 55 countries and adding daily.  Free download to iPhone and Android in the works.  I think that I have been training for this adventure my whole art life.  I know what artists desire.

Sparta App

7) How do you like to spend your down time to relax and recharge? 

What down time?  Yoga in the mornings by myself, walks with Lilly the Golden Retriever everyday, cooking with Stephan each evening.  We do get to travel quite a lot as well.   

I am taking sculptures classes here in Palm Springs in clay.  It is one medium that I had never tried.  Working on a large "Boteroesque" like horse.

Lee and her partner Stephan

8) What advice do you have for the beginning artist of any age? 

We just started representing a new artist who began only one year ago with her whimsical and sensual "Assemblage" artworks.  She is 75.  Just do it if you have the calling.

Lee, thank you so much, and I really love your last thought on advice for the beginning artist!

Thank you to my Family, Friends, and Followers who support The Arts!

Please do leave a comment as they make my day!

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xoxo

Karena

The Arts by Karena

Visit my India Hicks website for an introduction to an elegant, 

high quality lifestyle line! The holidays are coming!

www.indiahicks.com/rep/karenalbert  

Valentine Wishes and Versatile Blogger Award

Valentines Day...for thinking of our loved ones, family and friends. Pondering what we love about our passions and our lives. Debra of 5th and State has Given me the Versatile Blogger Award.So, I need to tell you some things about myself you may not know!

Ode to Helen Frankenthaler. I love the woman and the art that inspired this piece. The past year and a half I had lost the passion to paint. Granted I was dealing with some serious health issues. Most of my time on this blog is spent supporting other artists of all kinds, designers, entrepreneurs,etc.  I am so happy to say that I have picked up the brush again.

Mark Rothko White on Red. Another painter who has inspired me. Look how art inspires fashion and design Color Blocking is very current. There are many living artists I admire as well and will continue my artists series for 2012.

Cy Twombly This work of art is mesmerizing to me!

 This little girl looks so much like me at that age. I have always loved pets.

I have a loving, very furry Himalayan cat, Miss Belle!

Audrey Hepburn, a woman who lived a superb life, set a great example, always gave back, my style icon! Two of my older cousins, my Mother (who should be sainted) plus Audrey were my mentors!

Oh yes my dream was to be a Prima Ballerina and I love to dance.

My Dream to Visit France in the Autumn this Year! Art by Fifi Flowers

In the winter I wear every shade of gray possible and then a bright top or scarf. However in the spring and summer the brighter colors come out! This from Fresh Produce!

I have a huge family and have a son and daughter plus four grandchildren. Isabella is the one who spends the most time with me. She is growing up too fast. How does that happen? We have many fun family get togethers.

My Favorite all time Scent Chanel # 5. Given to me by my first boyfriend along with the dusting powder. A gift I will never forget! I think a woman is more alluring and mysterious wearing a subtle scent of perfume. Another benefit is that it truly boosts your confidence.

I love, love to read! As a little girl one of my older cousins, Sharon gave me her books when she finished with them. As the eldest of eight children, this was such a special gift. Reading took me away to another world and I have been an avid reader ever since. My daughter and her boyfriend gave me a Kindle for Christmas and I love it. I do still like to have my "Real" Art and Interior Design books. 

Work on my latest painting!

I would like to pass this award on to:

Andrea at The French Basketeer
Jane of Empress of the Eye 
Linda of Surroundings
Heather of Habitually Chic
Tish of A femme d'Un Certain Age
Artie of Color Outside the Lines 
Michele of MY Notting Hill
Rebecca of Acanthus and acorn


Tell us several interesting facts about yourself your blog friends may not be aware of!


Thank you to all of my friends, followers, and family who show me love all year long!


xoxo
Karena


Art by Karena

Keep Pushing On

I know it is the time of year, or so I keep saying. Days of I cannot do one more thing. I have pushed and pushed. I need some sunshine and heat. I miss taking art classes and going to Open Studio, as there is such a synergy of working with other artists. I call this painting Ode to Helen, Helen Frankenthaler, born in 1928, a woman definitely ahead of her time. An American abstract expressionist, she expressed herself as a color field painter. She had great admiration for Hans Hoffman and Jackson Pollock. She later married fellow artist Robert Motherwell.

If you love art as I do, look up some of her art, Pollocks, Motherwell's, and Hoffman's works. Of course don't forget Albers, de Kooning and Rothko. I think you will be amazed at the saturation and intensity of these greatest of the great in a very important movement in the arts.

An Evening with Jamie Wyeth at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Last night I was honored to be invited to the exhibit Wyeth: Three generations of Artistry. This special event took place at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City Missouri. Jamie Wyeth was interviewed by the new museum curater, Barbara Brian. Rachael Blackburn Cozad, Director and CEO was charming as always to all of the guests.

Sitting in the front row, I was able to ask Jamie a question during after the discourse. I was curious about his time spent with Nureyev and the many paintings and drawing he did of the Russian dancer. I will keep his story for another day!

The exhibit will be up until November 29th. It is breathtaking and I encourage anyone in the area to visit this special showing. These images are not in the exhibit, however they give you a hint of the power and expertise of his drawings and paintings.

I also was allowed to take a photo of one of my favorite works in the permanent collection at the Kemper by Helen Frankenthaler.
As a colorist and abstract expressionist, you can see why I love Helen's works of art. Bebe and Crosby Kemper are one of many extremely generous families of art patrons in Kansas City.

Images credited to the Kemper Museum and Jamie Wyeth. All works are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any form.