About Kimberly
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Artist Statement
I am a resin artist inspired by crystals, the moon, ebb and flow, relationships, and the cycle of life. I am drawn to clean, vibrant color and organic form. My work allows me to live in the moment. When I’m creating I feel whole. When I’m not creating I’m dreaming about my future pieces.
Everything about working with resin intrigues me. There is a certain stress because of the minimal work time before the resin begins to cure. But this stress leads to a hopeful anticipation and excitement to see how the resin heats up and reacts before settling down. Resin does what it does and that may be why I am so obsessed. Even the most well thought out plans change as the resin does its “resin thing”. It is because of this that I love working with this magical medium. The unpredictability mirrors life but it all works out in the end.
Artist Bio
Kimberly Leo is a mixed media artist who works with resin, acrylic, ink, watercolor, and mica powders. She was born in Hollywood, Florida and raised in Greater New Orleans. She has her BA in Painting and Drawing from LSU College of Design in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She studied under New Orleans artist, Robert Warrens and esteemed artists and professors, John Malveto, Chris Johns, Bob Hausey, and Robert Silverman.
Like most children, Kimberly loved art as a child but became completely immersed in oil painting after a life changing move from New Orleans to Baton Rouge during her freshman year of high school. This sudden move to Baton Rouge left Kimberly feeling completely alone and vulnerable. Everything about Baton Rouge was so different from New Orleans, but art was a sanctuary, life source and best friend. After winning numerous regional and state art contests, Kimberly attended LSU and earned her BFA in Painting and Drawing. While attending LSU Kimberly painted three large murals on steel panels, each 14 feet by 48 feet, for Zito Shipyard in New Orleans. Kimberly was also selling her oil paintings through Dixon Smith Interiors in Baton Rouge.
Kimberly’s career was heading in the right direction. It was when that momentum just started to get rolling that Kimberly became madly in love, married, and had her first child. Art came to a complete stop. Financial circumstances took their toll on her creativity and in 2000 she moved to Seattle. In Seattle Kimberly joined the corporate world and found great success, winning awards and trips overseas. But even with that success something never felt right. After a huge loss and life changing event it dawned on her that she was an artist and needed to be creating art to feel alive and whole.
So in August 2018, Kimberly dove head first back into art. She shocked her peers when she decided to pursue her passion. Many people told her to think twice before walking away from such a successful career but she knew what was up. Instead of painting abstract landscapes like younger Kimberly did she chose to learn everything about resin. You almost could say she is obsessed with resin. She has taken everything that she knows about color theory and composition and applied those principles to her resin art.
Kimberly has participated in numerous pop-up art shows throughout Seattle and had a solo exhibit at Bothell City Hall in 2019. She is also a regular exhibitor at West Seattle Art Walk, Edmonds Art Walk and sells her art nationally for both residential and commercial venues. She will be in a Shoreline Arts Council juried show at Town Center Gallery in March 2020. She has given a talk at King County, Bothell Library and taught art at Callus in Pioneer Square. She works and teaches out of her studio in the Lake City neighborhood of Seattle. She is all in!