A new art exhibition at Gallery C begins Wednesday, August 4 through August 31, 2021. New Works by Lee Mims will be showcased. Lee’s work is a melding of wildlife and contemporary art. She likes the juxtaposition of the tightly rendered figure immersed in a sea of color and shapes suggestive of something timeless and vast. Mims hopes to bring the viewer to contemplate the boundlessness of nature, the beauty of each and every creature no matter how great or small, and give them the hope that beyond us there are worlds and worlds too numerous to count with wonders impossible to imagine.
About Lee Mims – Mims was raised on a farm in Raleigh and received her Masters Degree in Geology from the UNC at Chapel Hill. Some might ask how she happened to become an artist after being trained as a scientist. She would attribute this phenomenon to her childhood. It was then, on a farm created that she developed a lifelong love of animals, the great outdoors and a desire to recreate the beauty she was constantly surrounded by.
Later, being a field geologist not only deepened her appreciation of the natural world but, by studying the elements, the chemistry involved in geology, she gained a deeper understanding of pigments and how to mix them. Lee would use these skills to achieve the effects she strives for today, an approximation of life.
Like many self-taught artists, Lee Mims started painting as a diversion from her career which changed after her children were born. Mims went from being a geologist to being a horse trainer. Soon requests from friends for portraits of their children, horses and various pets led her to start a small studio. That was twenty-five years and many portraits ago.
Around her twelfth year of painting primarily horses and portraits, she felt the need to expand her paintings to include other subjects. Lee started painting wildlife and landscapes. She studied for many years under the watchful eye of longtime Raleigh artist, illustrator and author of several art books, Bill Tilton. And, because all artists need to paint outdoors in the embrace of nature as much as possible, Lee Mims studied plein-air and studio painting with master artist, John Seerey-Lester of Osprey, Florida and plein-air with Heiner Hurtling of Milford, Michigan.
Gallery C – 540 North Blount Street, Raleigh, 27604, Lee Mims Exhibition August 4th to August 31st, 2021. Website.
Reposted from TheBeltlineBuzz.