Fairfield Art Association plans exhibit reception, gallery talk Friday

The Fairfield Art Association announces the Friday opening of a new painting exhibit by two award winning artists from Des Moines: Leslie Leavenworth will show her oil paintings and Jan Vander Linden will show her watercolors in the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center Main Gallery.

The artists, who are friends, will both be present for an opening reception from 6-8 p.m. and will give a gallery talk together at 6:30 p.m.

Leavenworth is a nurse by vocation and an artist by avocation. She began painting classes at age 6, studied drawing and painting at the University of Virginia, and continued to study art in California at community colleges in Fremont and Santa Barbara. Since moving to Des Moines 20 years ago, she has fallen in love with the quiet beauty of the Iowa landscape. Most weekends she is painting on location with the Saturday sketch group or studying portraits under Mary Muller. She is experimental in her approach, trying a variety of mediums and subject ideas. Her artwork is an eclectic mix of landscapes, portraits, and abstracts reflecting this journey of exploration.

Leavenworth has participated in juried shows in the metro area, and her awards include Best in Show at the Iowa State Fair Fine Arts, the Hoyt Sherman Women's Show and the Heritage Gallery Des Moines Exhibited. She is a Signature member of the Iowa Watercolor Society where she has won several awards, and has exhibited in Octagon National Juried All Media Exhibit. She believes she paints best out of her joy, and she finds great satisfaction in communicating that joy to others through her artwork. She looks forward to traveling to Italy this year for an art workshop.

Vander Linden was born in 1947 in Osceola. She went through her school years in Des Moines and then attended Iowa State University, majoring in advertising design. After earning her living as a bookkeeper for 10 years, she quit in 1978 to commit herself to her art, creating and selling watercolors and silk-screen prints.

Vander Linden has marketed her work at the top art fairs in the U.S. including Cherry Creek Arts Festival (Denver, Colorado), Contemporary Art Center of Virginia's Boardwalk Art Show (Virginia Beach, Virginia), Sausalito Art Festival (Sausalito, California), Milwaukee Art Museum's Lake Front Art Fair and the Plaza Art Festival (Kansas City, Missouri). Individuals, public institutions and private businesses from around the world have purchased her work. She is also represented at The Artisans Gallery in Iowa City.

In Iowa, her work can be found at the Memorial Union and vice president's office at Iowa State University, Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames and Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. It was her design that graced the 1999 official holiday greeting card for the governor's office.

Vander Linden was a long standing member of Associated Artists of Central Iowa and she has served on the Board of the Polk County Heritage Gallery and as the gallery director. She is signature member the Iowa Watercolor Society and has served in all its elected capacities. Currently she is its traveling exhibit chair. She is also the assistant superintendent of fine arts at the Iowa State Fair.