Lesley Downey
Lesley Holland Downey joined StudioWorks Gallery in 2019. She is a student of Andy Braitman, Allison Chambers, and Nicholas Stewart at Braitman Studio, working in oil. At a very young age, she was drawn to artistic expression in many forms whether it be dance, music, art. photography, writing and literature. Her first job was as a makeup artist which turned into a lifelong fascination with color, form and dimension.
Lesley grew up in Durham, NC and attended UNC-Chapel Hill and majored in Journalism. She feels fortunate to be able to marry her journalism background and her beauty obsession in her side gig—For the past 7 years, she's been living her dream job as the Beauty Editor for Peachy the Magazine which has a wealth of creative and talented women contributors.
Lesley loves buying original art, and that she still love some pieces she bought as much as 20 years ago. She feels like there’s something inside us all that tells us what we love when we look at it. There is no wrong or right when it comes to what you are drawn to. She is so thankful that back in 2008 after moving to Charlotte, she stumbled into the Center of the Earth Gallery in NoDa and met Ruth Ava Lyons and Sharon Dowell, artists and all around amazing women. She also happened to be Liz Orvos’s neighbor and thinks her painting is brilliant and has such a spontaneous energy. So in meeting these cool women, she felt like the universe was telling her something.
In 2012, Lesley signed up for an oil fundamentals class with a friend. It was truly scary trying something new but her teachers Allison Chambers and Marcy Gregg had her hooked on using a different part of her brain. That first class led her on her current path to continuously learning about art through painting landscapes, still life, and figure. She is most drawn to abstracted expression with beautiful color. One of Lesley's teachers calls her style “dreamy”, which she likes, having never been one to be exact or methodical. She's inspired but the countless artists whose work she admires, the beauty in nature, and the ever-fascinating human form. Lesley is a student, first and foremost, and to her that’s the exciting part — that learning will always continue.
