House Portrait and Landscape Artist Leisa Collins Visits New Zealand's Aoraki Mt Cook Village School in Support of Children and Art

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(Free-Press-Release.com) November 21, 2009 -- Visual artist Leisa Collins stopped into the Mt Cook-Aoraki village as part of a national painting tour in which she is retracing her footsteps of a journey through the South Island 30 years earlier. At that time she abandoned formal art training and the confines of the classroom, opting to learn her craft through capturing on canvas the beauty of the New Zealand landscape. She celebrated her return to Mt Cook by giving an impromptu watercolor lesson to the pupils of the Aoraki Mt Cook School.

“Mt Cook has always been one of my favorite places on earth. It’s a true source of inspiration for an artist and it was nice to give something back to this wonderful community at Aoraki Village. She will be returning next January where she will hold an exhibition at the Old Mountaineer’s Café and Restaurant and will give an art workshop.

Leisa recently took up her paintbrush and full-time art career again after two decades of social activism that took her to the four corners of the globe and gave her a firsthand view of diverse cultures and social inequities. She is currently creating her latest New Zealand series of paintings while at the same time fulfilling a steady stream of commissioned landscapes, child portraits and house portraits. “The first personalized paintings I did all those years ago were pen and watercolor house portraits of New Zealand homes, and its still a favorite,” said Leisa, “I especially like painting historic homes and buildings. Coming back to New Zealand this time I couldn’t get over how many art inspiring homes there are – talk about personality! I have seen homes all over the world, but there are more beautiful homes and gardens in New Zealand than anywhere else on the planet!”

Leisa is now combining her activist and artistic skills under the motto of art with a message. Her website stresses the importance of the artist bringing about social change and her Art in Action page includes her activities in this regard. Her website also includes an on-line gallery, featuring semi-abstract as well as realistic landscape and portrait works. She regularly posts on her Art with a Message Blog and keeps her friends and clients updated through her newsletter, Art in the Making.

Before arriving in New Zealand Leisa completed a 7,000 mile journey across the United States that marked her reemergence into the art world and captured the faces and places of America on her canvas. Entitled Across the USA from the Eyes of an Artist tour the tour started in Los Angeles on September 1 and ended in New York on October 15.

“Art is a powerful means of communication and is therefore a potent weapon to bring about change,” says Leisa. “Art for me is something that goes far beyond the walls of the studio.”

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