Sue Ellen LeysHobbies include snorkeling & singing with local bandsSelected NJ exhibitions:The Atrium Gallery Fall/Winter Invitational Exhibit, Morristown Administration & Records BuildingThe Tenth Muse GalleryThe Gallery at Morris ArtsDrawi…

Sue Ellen Leys, Selected NJ exhibitions:

Gallery 14C showcase exhibition at Aqua Art Miami

Montclair Art Museum/Studio Montclair Leach Gallery exhibition “Inspired by Family & Community” based on the Montclair Art Museum’s “Family, Community, Belonging” and the NJ Fine Arts Annual.

“Static Motion” & “Vivid Visions”, ArtFair14C, Jersey City

“NJ and Me: Imperfect Together”, Drawing Rooms

The Atrium Gallery Fall/Winter Invitational Exhibit, Morristown Administration & Records Building

The Tenth Muse Gallery

The Gallery at Morris Arts

Drawing Rooms’ “The Big Small Show”, Jersey City

ValleyArts’ “Open Orange”

Johnson & Johnson’s New Jersey Artist Solo Series

Nabisco Gallery

The Maplewood Library- Featured Artist of the Month

Artists Studio Tours of Maplewood/ South Orange-

Refer to the “Shows” pages for more details on exhibitions.

 

Sue Ellen Leys is a NJ born painter of candid figurative scenes and joyful cultural happenings. She began exploring the visual and performing arts growing up in Memphis, Tennessee and metropolitan New Jersey where she now resides. A BFA from Washington University in St. Louis led to a career in fashion design, styling, and costume design for theatre and dance in Los Angeles, New York City, regionally, & the UK.

“My process creating narrative paintings begins with my candid photography of people celebrating art, music, & style. By singing in bands and attending festivals myself, I am participating in this community. I am more interested in gesture than an exact likeness, and in clothing as an extension of the character.”

Since the mid 90’s, Sue Ellen has shown work in about 40 solo and group shows, (some of which are listed on the left), showing illustrations, figurative oil and most recently encaustic paintings, in galleries, corporate atriums and museums, with some work being acquired by private collectors. The artist was inspired by the exhibition 'Waxing Poetic: Encaustic in America” at Montclair Art Museum, 1999. Encaustic is an ancient process-oriented method of painting with heated and fused pigmented beeswax. The artist is influenced by works that explore the play of dramatic lighting, from the Bay Area sunlight-and shadow figures of David Park and Richard Diebenkorn, to the dimly-lit cafe/nightlife underworld of Toulouse Lautrec. In 2017 her encaustic work was included in a “Bay Area Figurative” juried show and catalogue curated by John Seed in California: “Honoring the Legacy of David Park” at Santa Clara University.

Her oil paintings often depict individuals in architectural settings, such as shop and restaurant windows. One that was selected for the Visual Arts Center NJ “International Juried Show” (juried by Thelma Golden) is described by William Zimmer (The New York Times, April 7, 1996) as "a low key celebration of the contemporary world, ...representational painting (being) the most alluring in this show."