Anita Lee is currently a resident of Ajijic, Jalisco Mexico, having moved here from Northern California. She studied art as a very young girl, working in pastels at the age of 9. Anita is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in art and she taught high school art in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Anita was a signature member of the Sierra Pastel Society and has exhibited in Mexico, the United States and Jamaica. She helped continue the Lake Chapala Society of Ajijic children’s art program legacy as a volunteer for 6 years, teaching the next generation of Ajijic artists.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
In my first private art class at the age of nine, I got a box of 48 pastels. I had those pastels for over 30 years as I moved around to three countries and six cities. Many other art mediums entered my life in those ensuing years. I spent years working in 3D, in both sculpture and jewelry. When my hands were giving me problems from all the hard work of these mediums I decided that I needed to do something that would be easier on them. I loved being out in the beauty of the California country where I wanted to capture that beauty in my art. I liked the bold colors and easy portability of pastels and decided to give them a try. I don’t have those original 48 pastels anymore, I gave them to a nephew who loved art, but now I have more like 1000 sticks of various pastels. With pastels I can take the beauty of the world around me and make it my own. Like the Impressionists who experimented with light and color, I am challenged by portraying the incredible light of Mexico with my own vision. I began experimenting with color to keep challenging myself and my art.
I have expanded my mediums to oils, watercolor drawings and now acrylics.
Anita Lee is currently a resident of Ajijic, Jalisco Mexico, having moved here from Northern California. She studied art as a very young girl, working in pastels at the age of 9. Anita is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in art and she taught high school art in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Anita was a signature member of the Sierra Pastel Society and has exhibited in Mexico, the United States and Jamaica. She helped continue the Lake Chapala Society of Ajijic children’s art program legacy as a volunteer for 6 years, teaching the next generation of Ajijic artists.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
In my first private art class at the age of nine, I got a box of 48 pastels. I had those pastels for over 30 years as I moved around to three countries and six cities. Many other art mediums entered my life in those ensuing years. I spent years working in 3D, in both sculpture and jewelry. When my hands were giving me problems from all the hard work of these mediums I decided that I needed to do something that would be easier on them. I loved being out in the beauty of the California country where I wanted to capture that beauty in my art. I liked the bold colors and easy portability of pastels and decided to give them a try. I don’t have those original 48 pastels anymore, I gave them to a nephew who loved art, but now I have more like 1000 sticks of various pastels. With pastels I can take the beauty of the world around me and make it my own. Like the Impressionists who experimented with light and color, I am challenged by portraying the incredible light of Mexico with my own vision. I began experimenting with color to keep challenging myself and my art.
I have expanded my mediums to oils, watercolor drawings and now acrylics.