Leisa Shannon Corbett (USA)
Visual Artist
Leisa knew she had to become an artist from age 7 and earned an Associate degree in Art at Saint Louis Community College. She served eight years in the U.S. Army and trained as a Military Intelligence specialist and German linguist. While stationed in Berlin, Germany, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in art history. Leisa exhibited and sold her paintings in local galleries and had a business conducting tours of Berlin art museums for English speakers.
Upon her return to United States, she earned an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of the Fine Arts. After graduation, she worked three years for Golden Artists Colors, giving workshops and technical lectures. For seven years, she taught art history, art appreciation, drawing and painting at community colleges in the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area. She has exhibited her work in commercial and university galleries and juried exhibitions in Europe and the United States. Leisa has received the Excellence in Teaching Award for Adjunct Faculty at North Lake College (in Irving, TX) for 2005-2006.
In 2018 and 2019, she won an Award of Excellence for her painting from the Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists and an Award of Excellence at the Recent Works 2018 exhibit at the College of Lake County, IL. In 2010, Leisa became an artist member and later, co-director of the Dandelion Gallery in Waukegan, IL. She now lives in Waukegan because it has become an artist enclave with inspiring creative energy. To view more of her artwork, go to http://www.leisacorbettart.com
Nature
By Leisa Shannon Corbett (Guest Artist), USA
“My strongest childhood memory of being moved by nature was at age 5. I stared mesmerized by the wind blowing through a sea of long grass at my grandfather’s farm in Missouri. The sun shining on daffodils on an Easter morning could fill me with joy that I could not put into words, but felt compelled to express. At first, I tried to tell my family, but they just looked at me, puzzled. It was frustrating. At age 7, I began drawing in earnest. Even after years of practice, I knew I wasn’t skilled enough yet to convey to others the feelings nature aroused in me.
As an adult I tried naturalistic landscape painting. The work was competent, but not exciting. There was nothing that moved viewers or distinguished the art from that of so many landscape painters.. A few years ago, I was on the verge of despair that I would never accomplish much as an artist when a blessing arrived, disguised as a setback. I injured my painting arm and could not make the vigorous motions brushes require. So, I began using painting knives.
Suddenly, my work came alive with rich texture and color. I experimented with unusual colors that I’d had for years and had never known how to use. The paintings began to sing. They excited viewers in ways I didn’t expect and couldn’t have predicted. I began to get accepted into more juried shows and have won two awards of excellence this year. What joy!”
