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I’ve often heard it is hard to work when you have an exhibit on. I’ve not experienced that before now. Usually when I have work up in a gallery, I am very critical of what I have done, see what needs to be done next, where to go, and am directed by that. This time, with the exhibit at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery (up for one more week), I have had a very different experience. Possibly because I created most of the work specifically for this exhibit and was so focused o

There is a small room off the large gallery at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. We decided to put small paintings in the small room and large paintings in the large room. It worked. The small room was intimate; the large room, expansive. Like moving from a spacious, limitless world opened up by the large paintings, to its inner workings, the heartbeat created by the row of small works. I enjoyed watching people move from one room to the other. A change of expression in bo

Novels are usually about people’s lives. They take me into what other people experiences, feel, how they think and solve problems. When I paint, I want to stay away from stories that can be interpreted literally, but similar to the stories in novels that I enjoy the most, I want to go into a personal space, solve problems, create a painting that will resonate with someone else’s life. Make it, ultimately, not about me, have it stand on its own feet, be itself. #Nonverbalcommu

Last Sunday I gave my “Artist’s Talk” at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. It went well, lots of good questions. Actually, I opened it up to questions almost immediately as it was more interesting for me and seemed so to the audience as well. One of the questions that is still lingering in my mind was about my literary interests. The question was, more or less, do those interests influence my painting. I was a lit major as an undergrad, before going to art school, was very

The reception was great, well attended, enjoyable. Several people I hadn’t seen in a while were there, some old students, old friends, new friends. Very satisfying. I don’t have good installation photos yet. They will come. The weather was something else last night. It was a very heavy rain day, flooding on the roads and bitter winds. After the opening reception, I stepped out into what must have been a wind tunnel and was picked up like I was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Blo

The Saint Mary’s University crew picked up the work Tuesday morning. I went into the gallery in the afternoon to talk about the placement of the paintings. Everyone easily agreed on where each painting needed to be. There is a big window on the end wall and I am leaving it uncovered. The view is of bare trees right now, but over the course of the two months my work will be there, the trees will bud and leaf out. With the large paintings on the long walls, the window fits in w

Here’s the scoop: a busy April ahead. First the opening reception at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, Friday, 1 April. Then on 2 April, I go to Ottawa for an opening reception of my work on Sunday afternoon, 3 April. A gallery talk that Thursday, the seventh, then home on the eighth. A gallery talk here at Saint Mary’s Sunday, 24 April. Meanwhile I am forced out of my studio for two weeks. Too much to do to get ready for the exhibits and then a week in Ottawa. A good thin

VISUAL VIEWPOINTS: Leya Evelyn’s thoughtful, entrancing abstracts yield layers of meaning ELISSA BARNARD ARTS REPORTER | VISUAL VIEWPOINTS Published October 16, 2014 – 5:31pm It Happens There 5, by Leya Evelyn, is in her exhibit, Impossible Possibilities, at Secord Gallery, Halifax. It’s a tonic for the fast-paced, careless interactions of the world to stand alone in a room with Leya Evelyn’s beautiful, sonorous paintings. These fine abstract paintings exist unto themselve

Three days past Tuesday and I still have rubber legs. Still need to cover my right eye most of the time. We have had such glorious sunny fall days lately, I’ve been taking to wearing sunglasses indoors. My eye is still a bit light sensitive, for sure. I’m not used to being so passive, both needing help now to take Lila for walks and basically doing not much myself. I live in the most wonderful neighborhood, have the best neighbors and friends. One took me in the Halifax early

English: Gestalt psychology – perception Magyar: Gestalt-pszichológia alapelvei (Photo credit: Wikipedia) If you are in the area (Halifax, Nova Scotia!), this should be a fun way to spend the day.  And it’s free!  It’s a taste of the five-day group retreat we will be doing in Tatamagouche  June 5 to 9.  It was a total success last year and will only be better this year! Here’s the blurb.. three of the most provocative creativity teachers share a taste of their unique, experie

Halifax is not New York. I had a long day traveling, with a seven hour wait in the Philadelphia airport because of flight delays and missed connection. I arrived in Halifax after midnight (I was scheduled to be in by 4:30 pm!). Because of the late hour, Sean couldn’t pick me up so I needed to take a cab to his place in Halifax to gather up Lila and my car. I walked out of the airport into the cold night and there were no cabs. This is not New York. I was sixth in line for a t

Secord Gallery Nov 2012, originally uploaded by leyaevelyn. Usually, of course, my paintings look very different outside my studio, when they are in a clean, new environment. This time, I didn’t feel that way. All day Friday I could feel the energy of the paintings. It was a very strong feeling, almost audible. I could feel it coming down the highway from Halifax. So when I was in the gallery that evening for the opening reception, how the paintings felt was more important to