New York transplant Leigh Walker may be new to South Florida, but her art is already receiving public attention.
Two of her paintings were shown at ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale during a juried exhibit honoring Black History Month. Any Monday Morning, which resonates with a timeless feeling of the old South, shows an African-American woman holding a chicken against the backdrop of clothes drying on an outdoor line.
''I have no formal art training,'' said Walker, who lives in Tamarac. ``I do people of color in tones of purple or blue. But now I am working in actual skin tone color. I started the woman in Any Monday Morning as a portrait of my daughter. It felt like a Southern scene with the feeding of the chicken or preparing to cook the chicken. That painting evolved -- it told me what it wanted.''
The child of Jamaican parents, Walker went to school in Brooklyn and took a course in clay at the Art Students League of New York. She considers clay the medium she knows best.
''This is the first time I've developed my painting,'' she said, recounting various jobs in administration and social work that kept her distracted from art. ``But I hadn't done any artwork for 25 years. I put myself on the shelf because I was working or taking care of my mother, who was ill. The need was to stay at conventional jobs. I didn't feel free.''
A few years ago, she began experimenting with the malleable Sculpey clay.
''I had a show of my little figures at the Art Under Construction gallery in New York City,'' said the artist, who admires Wyeth, Modigliani and Kathe Kollwitz. ``I also had my work at the Westchester Center for the Arts in Mount Kisco and the Klein Art Gallery in Woodstock.''
People are Walker's preferred subject.
''I like to paint what's going on inside a person,'' she said. ``I'm trying to reach for the soul of a person, rather than their likeness. With clay, I have a general idea. I let my hands do what they want. I could do it blindfolded.''
Not having the space to create art at home, Walker, who settled here last June to escape the cold weather, arrived at a breaking point.
''I felt I was about to lose it, I was so lost and inhibited,'' she said. ``I was very depressed and complained to friends. They suggested 9Muses Art Center (in Lauderhill). Because I had been to therapy, I found I could use the space and work there. It was actually a godsend. I do consider myself an artist and not being able to create had a bad effect on me emotionally and spiritually.''
Now Walker is working part time as a caregiver.
''This is a new environment for me,'' said Walker, who admitted she feels restricted but is trying to make the best of it. ``I love fishing down here, off the pier or on a boat. I'm inspired by the water and the sky.''
Walker's paintings range in price from $400 to $1,200. To see her work or place a custom order, call her at 954-696-5653.