A Free Spirit

Above: One of Vanessa's pieces: Red Dancer

FOR many years Vanessa Leonowicz was a textile artist, known for her embroideries, banners and papier mache pots, which she exhibited, sold and demonstrated in various schools and colleges and through workshops and residencies.

From 1998 to 2004 Vanessa took a few years off to raise a family – Theodore, now ten, and Agnes, six – during which time she re-evaluated her artistic talents and decided that textiles were prohibiting her creativity and she was looking for something that would give her more freedom of expression.

‘I found I was getting bogged down with the technicalities of working with textiles and I wanted something where I could be free and impulsive,’ says Vanessa. ‘I wanted to produce something that had more meaning, expression and emotion.’

And so she turned to painting, but not just any painting – Vanessa is particularly captivated by the movement of the body through sport and dance. Vanessa is also inspired by her religious beliefs and likes to include stories and legends of saints and spirits. It is a combination of all of these interests and inspirations that have brought about a collection of work called, Angels, Saints, Demons and Dancers.

Predominately, Vanessa’s paintings are acrylic on board or canvas but recently she has started to explore egg tempera onto gesso and painting onto cast plaster and also likes to reverse paint onto glass. ‘The paintings I have developed are intimate and intense in colour and content,’ she says.

Taking her inspirations from artists such as Duccio, Sasseta and Giotto as well as Mexican Retablos and traditional Greek and Russian icons, Vanessa says she loves their quiet stillness and wants to capture that in her own work.

Vanessa is taking part in the Hertfordshire Open Studios Event, where her work will be on display at Patrick’s Café Continental, Letchworth, in a solo exhibition throughout September. Vanessa will also be holding a series of demonstrations on Saturday, September 22 and Wednesday, September 26 between 10am and noon.

Article taken from July issue of Hertfordshire Life