Artist's Bio

Lora Leigh was raised in the Roanoke Valley of Southwest Virginia. In 1985 she received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. Upon graduating she traveled and explored throughout the Southwest region of the United States residing in Salt Lake City, Utah where she continued her studies in ceramics and pastel painting. Inspired by the magnificent landscape of desert and canyons and high mountain tops her early intuitive pastel paintings of free-flowing organic forms began to take form.

Returning to Virginia in 1986 Lora Leigh continued her formal education in ceramics at Roanoke College and continued to paint with pastels. Encouraged to share her paintings, she began showing her work at juried, group and invitational shows in the area. Lora married in 1987, moved to Baltimore, Maryland and gave birth to her first son in 1988. During her pregnancy she created a second series of Shells which strongly exemplifies the compositional considerations of stillness, balance and harmony presented in her work. As her immersion in mothering gained importance in her life, her individual pursuits of artistic expression began their dormancy. In 1991 she welcomed twin sons into her life and resigned her art to full time mothering for the following six years.

Seeking a deeper connection with the earth and community, Lora Leigh and her three children moved to the mountains of Floyd, Virginia in 1996. Longing to combine her passion for the arts and her love for children she dedicated her time to the development of the children’s art program at Blue Mountain School for three consecutive years while constructing a home studio of her own.

In January of 2000 Lora Leigh was asked to teach at TEKOA, a residential and treatment facility for young women at risk. Her involvement at TEKOA culminated with a living arts performance comprised of a stage set, masks, music, dance, poetry and paintings presented at the June Bug Center, a healing arts complex in Floyd. Inspired by the power of creative expression to bring forth healing Lora intends to pursue further studies in the field of Expressive Arts Therapy while growing and evolving as an artist in her home studio in Floyd, Virginia.

Following the 2001-2002 school year of teaching young children at Blue Mt. School, Lora Leigh leaped from the precipice and made a commitment to pursue her career as an artist. The strong desire to share her art led to the “resurrection” of her artistic self in an exhibit at Oddfella’s Cantina in the summer of 2003.

Currently, Lora Leigh exhibits her work in juried shows and festivals around the country and appreciative of the magic children have to offer in the creative process, she also continues to serve as the art teacher for home-schooled children in Floyd, Virginia. 

Artist Statement

As a pastel painter, my primary concerns reach beyond the aesthetic considerations involved in the process of pastel painting. I am interested in capturing and visually stating the feeling sense of the subject matter. Form and content, thus, is given more to my subjective experience than to its literal representation.

My subject matter is found in the quiet stillness and rhythmic patterns of the natural world echoing a resonant call for balance and harmony. Each painting is a meditation. Through my paintings I wish to communicate that which I have no words to express: the awesome mystery of time, the suspension of a moment which holds a lifetime and the sensual essence and life force I see and feel in the world around me and within me.

Shows/Exhibitions/Festivals

1987-1988
EDMONDS PACKETT GROUP, Roanoke, Virginia. Three person show.
8th ANNUAL ROANOKE VALLEY ART SHOW, Roanoke, Virginia. Juried.
LIVING GALLERY, North Cross School, Roanoke, Virginia. Invitational.
FESTIVAL IN THE PARK, Roanoke, Virginia. 
TOMLISONS CRAFT COLLECTION, Baltimore, Maryland. Group Show.
ANNUAL FLOYD COUNTY ART SHOW, Floyd, Virginia. Awarded third place.

2003
ODDFELLA’S CANTINA, Floyd, Virginia. June-July. Two Person Show. 
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. Sept-Nov. Juried. 
   Acknowledgement from Jim Moon of the Asolare Fine Arts Academy.
OLD CHURCH GALLERY, Floyd, Virginia. Nov-Dec. Group Show.
WINTERFEST, Floyd, Virginia. December 6-7.

2004
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. Feb-Mar. Member’s Collective Show.
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. April-May. Juried.
ROANOKE SIDEWALK ART SHOW, Roanoke, Virginia. June 5-6.
MAMA LAZARDO’S RESTAURANT, Floyd, Virginia. Aug-Sept. Two Person Show.
FLOYDFEST, Floyd, Virginia. August 13-15.
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. Sept.-Oct. Member’s New Work.
ART IN THE ALLEY, Salem, Virginia. September 26. Guest Artist.

2005
GALLERY AT THE GRILL, Roanoke, Virginia. April. Solo Show.
FLOYDFEST, Floyd, Virginia. July 28-30.
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. July-Sept. Floyd Artists New Work.
LYNCHBURG ART FESTIVAL, Lynchburg, Virginia. September 17.
   Received Royal Arts Award. Judge–Megan Marlatt, Chair, UVA Art Dept. 
NEW RIVER ART SHOW, Jacksonville Center, Floyd, Virginia. Oct.–Nov. Juried.
   Awarded Honorable Mention. Juror-Don Black.

2006
FLOYDFEST, Floyd, Virginia. July 28-30.
JACKSONVILLE CENER, Floyd, Virginia. April-May. Faculty Show.
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. Aug-Sept. Floyd Artists New Work.
LYNCHBURG ART FESTIVAL, Lynchburg, Virginia. September 16.
   Received Lynn Shapiro Award. Judge – Carol Burch-Brown, Chair, Va. Tech Art Dept. 
LAKE EDEN ARTS FESTIVAL, Black Mountain, NC. October 20-22.
CAFÉ DEL SOL, Floyd, Virginia. October-November. Solo Show. 

2007
MELBOURNE ART FESTIVAL, Melbourne, Florida. April 28-29.
COLUMBUS ARTS FESTIVAL, Columbus, Ohio. June 7-10.
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. July-August. Floyd Artists New Work.
BELLEVUE ARTS & CRAFT FAIR, Bellevue, Washington. July 27-29.
SUN VALLEY CENTER ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL, Sun Valley, Idaho. August 10-12.
LYNCHBURG ART FESTIVAL, Lynchburg, Virginia. September 15.
NEW RIVER ART SHOW, Perspective Gallery, Blacksburg, Virginia. Nov-Dec.

2008
JACKSONVILLE CENTER, Floyd, Virginia. Jan.-Feb. Faculty Show.