RIVERVIEW, Fla. — Everyday Leslie Neumann looks out on 15,000 protected acres of coastal wilderness in Aripeka.
And she was one of the people who helped save the brackish waters from development.
What You Need To Know
- “Wetlands in Transition: Encaustic Paintings by Leslie Neumann”
- Dunedin Fine Art Center
- 1143 Michigan Blvd., Dunedin
- The reception is Friday, June 14 at 6 p.m.
“Of course, I have the perfect motivation for having done land conservation for 30 years,” said Neumann, looking out on her back porch.
It’s on this that she has based her work, encaustic painting. She employs molten, pigmented wax and applies it to a wooden panel, reheats it with various tools and then removes part of it.
“And now you can see that whatever I had painted underneath is going to show through, and that’s exactly the idea,” said Neumann.
The unique works resonate with her audience.
“It’s fantastic. You know it’s not so much about the money — of course, everyone wants the money. But it’s about the affirmation,” said Neumann.
She said she appreciated the affirmation from viewers whose reactions let her know that her art matters.
“My work is informed by this, because it’s so incredibly beautiful,” she said. “And then when I’m not painting, I go and fight with the people who want to develop it.”