Leigh’s artistic intelligence first became evident at age 2, emerging initially in the field of performing arts, which soon led her to a professional career in ballet, where she danced internationally with her home country’s national ballet company, The Australian Ballet.

Her creative passions soon extended to the professional choreographic arena, where her many, multifaceted original works, found professional engagement and commissions in the classical ballet, drama and music theatre fields throughout Australia, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Guangzhou, New York, Toronto, London. etc.

Although fully engaged with this very busy professional life in theatre, Leigh always sought, and initiated, time and ways, to respond to her innate creative instincts to paint – a deep and overwhelming passion that would not allow itself to be ignored, and that begged its freedom from suppression over a lifetime, and that finally demanded its resolution.

Painting, therefore, is the vital and consummate extension of Leigh’s lifelong journey of visual artistic expression and aesthetic. Painting has always lived within her soul as an organic essential life-force.

And so…Leigh was finally able to dedicate time to learning and involvement in art practices and skills: she undertook night courses at The Melbourne School of Art outside her working hours: she gained her Post-Graduate Diploma for Visual Arts, gaining High Distinctions in all 8 modules and topping her year: she immersed herself in the ‘art world’ whenever and wherever possible: she sought  further enlightenment and fulfilment for her artistic sensibilities by exposing her soul to the great works housed in the famous (as well as the relatively small ‘lesser known’) art galleries all over the world: she gained invaluable lessons and insights from various artists of diverse nationalities: her practice has found invaluable mentorship by many professional painters: she fully embarked on her daily, fully focused  art practice at her specifically built studio that annexes her home: her very first entry to a competition won first prize and sold, and her work has continued to sell ever since: commissions have been requested in Australia and in France.

Leigh’s thematic signature is ‘abstract expression’ that focuses on the visual conveyance of ‘natural universal coherence and its singular connectedness’ and ‘humanity’s deep, natural bond’.  Her works are usually accompanied by a poem or prose that expresses the visual language of the art with the written word and where possible, its acoustic counterpart.

Her submission of a work to YICCA, is her first foray outside Australia, and Leigh is delighted to have the opportunity afforded by YICCA, to have her work shown alongside her talented international colleagues.

THANK YOU YICCA!