September 28 - November 2, 2024
From Art Gallery Prudencia:
“A new exhibit, with Artist Anna Lisa Leal “Relics of the Desert” will open on Saturday, September 28, 2024, at Art Gallery Prudencia. The gallery is located at 2518 N. Main Avenue, San Antonio, Texas, 78212. The Opening Reception will be from 2 to 4 pm on Saturday, September 28, 2024. We will have the “Artist Talk” on Saturday, October 12th at 3 pm. The exhibit will continue through November 2 nd .
About Art Gallery Prudencia
Art Gallery Prudencia was founded by Texas native Prudence Lucas and opened in San Antonio, Texas in 2017. Our revolving exhibits include a mix of representational art, contemporary, sculpture, and pure abstracts. Please visit www.prudenciagallery.com for more information.
About the new exhibit
“Relics of the Desert” We are looking forward to our second solo exhibit with this very talented artist, Anna Lisa Leal ‘Relics of the Desert’ .
Artist Statement
“Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a desert lover, or simply curious, this exhibit will transport you through the botanical wonderland of the desert landscape. Don’t miss this oasis of creativity!” Anna Lisa Leal
About Anna Lisa Leal
I am originally from Laredo on the border of Texas and Mexico. As a kid, I spent my days playing among the tangerine trees and spent hours drawing in the shade of the trees where my mom set me up with a drawing pad. I vividly remember drawing through high school and most often doing portraiture. I continued figurative and portrait work in graphite while in college and often did portraits on request to make a bit of money. Though I had a degree of artistic talent, I pursued “practical” studies over the creative world.
As I delved into my scientific classes, I discovered a great aptitude in botany which was my first college course in biology. I was invited to teach the lab portion of that course
and did so for the remainder of my time at that campus. That love of botany was to find me in future years, I just did not know it yet. I was introduced to pastels in 2013 in a half-day pastel workshop given by an artist from the Pastel Society of New Mexico. I was pretty sure I would not like the medium, so naturally, here I am years later, still working in pastel. I learned to work in pastel by taking numerous workshops with nationally and internationally known pastel artists. Over the years, I have picked up various techniques that resonated with me in developing a technique of my own, from preparing the substrate to application of the medium.
Botanical subjects are my primary love. I am most inspired by the xeric specimens found in the Sonoran and Chihuahua deserts and throughout the southwestern United States. I am fascinated by Fibonacci spirals found in nature and echoed in phyllotaxy— the pattern in which leaves are arranged on plants to maximize the sunlight they receive. When people ask me to name my favorite between cacti, succulents, aloe and agave, my heart is invariably with the agave. I am moved by the stateliness of the agave and the endless variations in size, colors, and shapes. I marvel at the undulation of the agave leaves and those leaves imprinted by the now unfurled leaf – like footsteps in sand. I am emotionally moved by the poignant swan song beauty of the agave flower. I never fully understood my fascination with xeric botanicals until I was in West Texas and drove through Presidio. Like a ton of bricks, it hit me – I grew up on the Texas/Mexico border near the Chihuahua desert of Mexico. I was simply drawing my home. Home for the last 30 plus years has been in and around Austin, Texas. Currently, my studio is at my home in the Hill Country northwest of Austin near the Balcones Canyonlands Reserve.”
Reception: September 28, 2024 | 2–4 pm
Artist talk: October 12, 2024 | 3–4 pm
2518 N. Main Ave.
San Antonio, 78212 Texas
210-422-8681
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