Columbus, a preservation conscious city
Over the last 10 years, I have travelled to every state in the USA and as I now embark on my new series of paintings of Columbus homes, I am finding a wonderful mix of architectural styles. From welcoming Craftsmen homes, to Victorians and Queen Anns, to elegant Tudors, Colonial Revivals, Italianate styles, Ranch homes and more, Columbus has it all! I am also seeing a general trend in the city where there is an increased awareness regards the need to preserve and protect older homes and buildings.
My own experience regarding historic preservation, after traveling 50,000 miles across the USA, is that it is the homeowner who is the unsung hero in terms of investing their time, efforts and finance into lovingly restoring and more importantly maintaining the home they own. There are of course larger urban projects which are spearheaded by cities and historic preservation bodies, but when looking at the country as a whole, my estimate is that 85% of the maintained historic structures are homes. Each home has its own story which involves Individuals and families who have put their own blood, sweat and tears into making their home livable and comfortable as well as charming.
My mission is conserving communities and culture through my art. Any building with history has a story and once it is destroyed it is lost forever. With each brushstroke, my goal is to leave a legacy that will help tell these stories in every painting so that future generations may also value the architectural treasures surrounding us and more importantly, the people who made them so.
This next subject is one such example of a well maintained historic home that is about to reach 100 years old. The home is located in the Upper Arlington historic neighborhood. The exterior historic fabric of the home is still intact today.
The homeowners kindly sent me this photo with the note, “We are just one of several stewards of this home which was built in 1925 by E. Ray Evans and purchased in 1926 by its first owner, Warren F. Knight.”
And here is my house portrait which shows you how the home looks today. The trees have grown in and there is nice landscaping. As can be seen, I selected this home last summer when travelling through Columbus.
One of my favorite quotes is by Frank Lloyd Wright:
“The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization.”
From house portraits to paintings of cities, architectural art is my artistic passion. I love to capture the memories of homes in hand-crafted custom house portraits that exceed expectations with my attention to detail and vibrant watercolor hues.
I will leave you with my Artist Statement:
Art is a powerful means of communication and is therefore a potent weapon to bring about change. Interaction with people and the environment is my artistic inspiration and stimulation. It’s about getting across a message, an emotion, or envisioning a better tomorrow. Art for me is something that goes far beyond the studio and gallery walls. It’s about being intensely interested in the beauty and ugliness of everything surrounding one. This then allows me to create art that others can find interesting.
Cheers, Leisa
