Alice Leese

Alice Leese grew up on the YT Ranch in Winkler County Texas, where she and her
husband Rob live and work. They have two daughters, Laura and Elizabeth. She is
part of the fourth generation on the ranch and works alongside the fifth and sixth.
The ranch was started in the late 1800’s by her great grandfather who came from
Maine to Colorado then drove a herd of sheep to a railhead called Odessa in Texas
to homestead. The ranch now raises Hereford and Angus cattle.
Alice graduated from Abilene Christian University with a BFA in Studio Art and
worked on an MFA from Sul Ross State University She is a signature member of
the American Plains Artists and Cowgirl Artists of America, a member of Plein Air
Artists Colorado, Plein Air Artists of New Mexico and the Outdoor Painters
Society. She has been the artist in residence for the National Parks Arts Foundation
at Fort Union National Monument, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and the Dry
Tortugas National Park in Florida where she and her husband spent a month on a
50 acre island alone.
“My work is about place, specific locations. The work is regional to the southwest
United States, particularly the YT Ranch where I live and work. Coming from a
background of ranching makes conservation and stewardship of place a priority.
Impressions on the landscape made by natural phenomenon and man are recorded
in paint creating a record of the current environment as seen through the eyes of an
artist. The land, occupants and uses for land change over regions and my landscape
paintings are a record of the effects of weather conditions, droughts, rain and
events like grass fires.”