Leona Shanks

The Artist's Voice on Art and Life

As an artist, I have much to say. My art is a forum for me to express ideas that are in my consciousness. Images will not leave my mind until I explore them on canvas. My platform for communication is with paintbrush and canvas.

As an artist, I want to paint something that matters and is relevant to contemporary issues. I aspire to make a contribution so that when I leave this earth, maybe I have done something meaningful. A fire rages inside of me to create art that has soul and significance.

The greatest honor or ultimate achievement for me as an artist would be to create art that provokes an emotion or inspires thought in someone else. Life moves so fast. Maybe my work will enable someone to see something they might not have otherwise noticed. I will spend my life in search of truth which is found in the soul of everything living and also in death.

Biography

1980 to 1982 Studied at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and The Art Institute of Philadelphia.
1982 to 1984 Studied sculpture with Evangelos Frudakis at Frudakis Academy in Philadelphia.
1982 to 1984 In an attempt to find answers, I copied paintings at The Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the fall of 1984, Joe Rishel and Carl Strehlke, chief curators at PMA, introduced me to Nelson Shanks.
1985 to 1989 Studied painting with Nelson Shanks and assisted Nelson at The Art Students League of New York. In 1989, we married.
1989 to 2002 Assisted my husband’s evolving artistic career.
2002 First Place, Edmund Stewardson Award for Sculpture at PAFA.
2002 Co-founded Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia with husband, Nelson Shanks.
Currently: I paint, study and teach at Studio Incamminati. I paint because I need to. I study because if I stop learning, I stop growing. I teach to pass the torch and share the information that I believe in. My love of sculpture continues to influence my painting and add a dimension to my studies.

Exhibitions and Awards

Exhibitions
• 2009 Bucks County Fine Art Gallery: Artists of Studio Incamminati, Bucks County, Pa.
• 2006 Mastery and Meaning: Nelson Shanks and Studio Incamminati, Union League of Philadelphia, Pa.
• 2006 American Red Cross Benefit, Princeton, N.J.
• 2005 American Red Cross Benefit, Princeton, N.J.
• 2005 Cosmopolitan Club, Solo Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pa.
• 2004 Daylesford Abbey, Paoli, Pa.

Awards
• 2009 Art Renewal Center International Competition, Salon Finalist
• 2008 Art Renewal Center International Competition, Salon Finalist
• 2002 First Place, Edmund Stewardson Award for Sculpture at PAFA

Contact Information

Mail can be received at the following address:

STUDIO INCAMMINATI
340 North 12th Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Studio Incamminati: "Studies in Realist Art"

Studio Incamminati is a school where individuals develop the tools they need to speak through their art. From its Italian origin, the name translates to mean “progress” or “walk forward”.

Art is created for all. It is universal with no social, economic or geographic boundaries. Every society is proud of their cultural accomplishments. Great art enables the soul of each civilization to live on in perpetuity. Art enables us to realize the profound and boundless heights of our human potential.

Nelson and I have always felt the responsibility to teach. Creative expression should not be paralyzed by a failure or disability to communicate visually. Studio Incamminati empowers artists by teaching the skills they need to express through visual imagery. Control and mastery of one’s profession leads to maximum freedom. One cannot play Beethoven without total command of the piano keys. Let the painted word flow!

www.studioincamminati.org