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We are thrilled to welcome Anna Lisa Leal as the newest featured artist in our Temporary Exhibition Series. Anna Lisa will kick off her exhibition in conjunction with Bastrop's September First Friday festivities on Sept 5, from 6-8pm. Anna Lisa will be our featured guest, sharing about her work, processes and inspirations.
As an added bonus, we will also be hosting harpist Elaine Martin-Barber as a part of Bastrop LIVE month. Come join the fun!
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Anna Lisa Leal is originally from Laredo on the
border of Texas and Mexico. Her family has been in
in the South Texas region since 1731 when they
arrived from the Canary Islands to the Villa de San
Fernando in the Bexar Presidio - what is now San
Antonio.
As a kid, she spent her days playing and drawing in
the shade of the tangerine trees her backyard. She
vividly remembers drawing through high school and
college. Though she had artistic talent, she pursued a
degree in the sciences versus the creative world. She
discovered a great aptitude in botany which was her
first college course in biology. When the semester was
over, she was invited to teach the laboratory aspect of
that course and did so for the rest of her time at that
campus.
In 2013, she attended a half day pastel workshop
taught by an artist from the Pastel Society of New Mexico. She fell in love with the medium and has not put pastels
aside since. She furthered her education in pastels by taking numerous workshops with nationally and internationally
known pastel artists. Over the years, she picked up various techniques that resonated with her and led her to develop
a technique of her own which includes preparing her own boards and the various was she applies the pastel and other
mediums to achieve the effect she desires.
Botanical subjects are her primary love. She is most inspired by the xeric specimens found in the Chihuahuan and
Sonoran deserts and throughout the Southwestern United States. When people ask her to name her favorite between
cacti, succulents aloe and agave, her heart is invariably with the agave. She admires the stateliness of the agave and
the seemingly endless variations in size, colors and shapes. She says “I have a fascination with the undulation of
some species of agave leaves and am intrigued by the markings of the now unfurled agave leaves on its adjacent
leaves - like footsteps in sand. The ultimate beauty is that of the poignant swan song of the agave flower - it's last
hurrah before death”.
Anna Lisa never fully understood her fascination with xeric botanicals until she was driving through the city of
Presidio on the Texas/Mexico border. She realized then given her birthplace and early years, she was simply drawing
her home. Home for the last thirty plus years has been in and around Austin, Texas. Currently, her studio is at her
home in the Hill Country northwest of Austin near the Balconies Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge.
The collection will be available for purchase at Found from September 5-November 1, 2025.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
912 Water Street, Bastrop, TX, United States, Texas 78602
