Watercolor artist Karen Leigh featured at Phillips Gallery

Phillips Gallery hosts an opening reception for an exhibit titled Mostly Montana with award-winning artist Karen Leigh on Friday, May 3. 

Leigh will give a talk about the pieces in the exhibit and her inspiration for them at 5:30 p.m.

Leigh is a disciplined artist who credits her long, successful career to a simple principle — “Get up every morning. Go to the studio. Do the work.” Leigh has done just that and explains that in his exhibit it is her intention to showcase some of her favorite places, not only in her home state, but gleaned from memories of travels to other parts of the world as well. 

“When making these paintings it allows me to visit them again in my studio,” she said. “Whether it is a hike to Iceberg Lake, a drink with friends at the Sip n' Dip Lounge in Great Falls or remembrances of times spent in Italy and Greece. And as always, I look for beauty in unexpected places like a lumber yard in Evergreen after a rain. It is my hope that some of these images will bring back fond memories for the viewers as well.”  

Her primary interest has been transparent watercolor. Always on the lookout for “accidental magnificence,” she is particularly interested in finding beauty in unexpected places. Junk yards and rusty machinery offer many exciting possibilities, but figures and urban landscapes are important subjects to her as well.

Leigh obtained a degree in graphic design from Montana State University and has been a professional artist for over 50 years. She is an adjunct professor at Flathead Valley Community College where she has been teaching for five decades. She taught for FVCC’s semester abroad Venice program. She taught a painting class in Monet’s Gardens in Giverny, France. She has stood in Van Gogh’s room in St. Remy in the asylum where he stayed near the end of his life, looking out at the still unchanged landscape – quintessential moments forever instilled in her memory. Leigh has served as the executive director of the Hockaday Museum of Art.  

Leigh’s work can be found in many private and public collections including the Beringer Wineries, ConAgra Industries, the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and the Smithsonian Institution. She has been featured in several arts magazines including “Watercolor Magic,” “Watercolor Artist” and “Portfolio.” She was selected to design an ornament for the White House 2007 Christmas Tree and along with other contributing artists were honored at a reception hosted by first lady Laura Bush in the White House. She was accepted into the Northwest Watercolor Society's 79th Annual International Competition, one of only 60 selected artists.   

Phillips Gallery is located inside the Kalispell Center Mall. The Mostly Montana exhibit will remain on view until the end of May.