By permission of the artist, The Cyber Art Show is pleased to feature the second of two 12-piece exhibitions of works by contemporary American landscape painter Renee Leopardi (born 1975 in Cincinnati, Ohio).

 

Renee was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and after 12 years of Catholic school, she decided to immediately join the work force. Within a year after high school, she decided it would be best to continue her education and worked her way through night school to achieve an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Cincinnati.  During those years, she met many wonderful people, one of which is her husband, who grew up in southern New Jersey.  In 2002, she relocated to southern New Jersey to start a family and has never looked back.

From early childhood, Renee has always been interested in art.  However, art was never pushed or nurtured as a possible career path, so art became hobby for years.  In 2008, she took an Advanced Painting workshop at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia.  From then on, she knew her focus had to change.  Since that first workshop, she has continued to further her art education through workshops and independent study including Life Drawing and plein air painting sessions with fellow local artists.   

Her newest works are primarily pastel paintings.  Through her studies, she realized that painting with pastels has pushed her to explore and create more than she thought she could.  Working with pastels can be quick and expressive in a way she wasn’t finding before.  Working with pastels has also altered her overall painting style by giving it a turn toward impressionism. 

She finds inspiration in the local seasonal landscapes of southern New Jersey; from the ocean and marshes to creeks and woods to farmland.  When the weather isn’t so friendly, she and her painting friends move indoors to work on still life or the figure.

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Memberships

 

• Pastel Society of America, Associate Member

• International Association of Pastel Societies

• American Impressionist Society

• Ocean City Fine Arts League

• Galloway Arts Center

• Gallery 50

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Solo Exhibition 

Village on High Gallery, Landscapes & Waterways, March 2016

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Group Exhibitions 

 

• Nashville North Studios, The Giving Trees, September 2016

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Autumn, September 2016

• ​The Artist's Framer, Plein Air Event Preview, September 2016

• Gallery 50, Inc., Nature & the Landscape, an Environmental Perspective, September 2016

• Cumberland County Cultural & Heritage Commission & Gallery 50, Inc., Annual Plein Air Competition, September 2016

• ​Nashville North Studios, All Creatures Great and Small, August 2016

• Great Bay Gallery, The Point of Porches, August 2016

• 16th Annual Artist & Friends Art Show Benefiting the Brendan Borek Endowed Fund at CHOP, August 2016

• Nashville North Studios, Iconic Images of the Jersey Shore, July 2016

• The Barn, Summer 2016 Juried Art Exhibit, July 2016 1st Place Award

• 29th Annual Art Show, Avalon Community Center, June 2016

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Sky, May 2016

• Galloway Arts Center, Winter Show, January-March, 2016

• ​Ocean City Fine Arts League, Black, White & Shades of Grey, March 2016

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, La Petit Show, December 2015

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Anything Goes, November 2015

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Bird's Eye View, October 2015, Honorable Mention

• Galloway Arts Center, Autumn Splendor, September/October 2015

• The Artist Framer Plein Air Competition, September 2015, 3rd Place Award

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Changing Seasons, September 2015, Honorable Mention

• Great Bay Gallery, July-September 2015

• Shore Memorial Hospital/Ocean City Fine Arts League Member Show, July-December 2015

• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Summertime, July-August 2015

• Ocean City Arts Center, Annual Invitational, June 2015

• ​Ocean City Fine Arts League, Purple Show, February 2015

• Artists’ Day on the River Exhibit, Millville, February 2015 

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Awards 

 

• The Barn, Summer 2016 Juried Art Exhibit, 1st Place Award

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• 29th Annual Art Show, Avalon Community Center, June 2016, Second Place in works under glass 

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• Galloway Arts Center, Autumn Splendor, September through December 2015, Honorable Mention

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• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Bird's Eye View, October 2015, Honorable Mention

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• The Artist Framer Plein Air Competition, September 2015, 3rd Place Award

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• Ocean City Fine Arts League, Changing Seasons, September 2015, Honorable Mention

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• Monteiro Studio/La Bottega Gallery, October, 2011, Merit Award