Trappings of Texas 2023 Premier Artist

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 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. She has also been featured on Texas Country Reporter. Her work is represented by Jeff Tabor Gallery in Santa Fe, and Western Gallery in Austin and online.

“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.”