Vanessa Lemen

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Vanessa Lemen is an award-winning painter who lives and works in Carlsbad, CA, with works exhibited and in private collections internationally. She is represented by Rehs Contemporary Galleries in NYC. With paintings exclusively published in the new Illustrated Limited Edition of The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin, her work has also been published in such art books as Spectrum, Women of Wonder, The Journal, and Infected By Art, and has been featured in articles in magazines such as American Art Collector, ImagineFX, and Poets And Artists. Vanessa also writes monthly columns for the Muddy Colors blog and is an educator who mentors privately, teaches classes online, and instructs at workshops across the US. Her recent work has earned her The Chesley Award and other awards in publications such as Infected By Art, as well as Art Renewal Center's ARC Salon, and participation in the International ARC Salon Exhibition.

Described through metaphorical imagery, it's excerpts from her personal journey and reflection that she credits most as the inspiration for her work, and rolling with the unexpected as the very nature of her process. Much like the spontaneity of a dialog, the marks on the surface are what evoke a response and then a discovery, and a possibility of something new to form. Each piece she creates seems to come from a chaos, and in it, she is able to create a place of reflection and curiosity, a balance of the deep-seated and the unknown, with areas of rest and of movement that intertwine to form a calm amid the chaos, and a story that unfolds with time.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.