ARTIST ROSTER - MIXED MEDIA

Lee Truer

Minneapolis

Lee Truer's vibrant, tropically colored acrylic painting titled "Stroking" is featured behind Jan Hively in the opening sequence of the film "The Creative Power of Aging," produced by tpt and MnCAAN and featured on this website.

Lee is best known for her oil pastels, but also works in acrylics, oils, watercolor, mask making, and written art forms. She is a fifty-five-year-old artist who grew up on the edge of Spanish Harlem in New York, traveled the world, and survived health crises, house fires, and more. From empathy and experience, Lee understands prejudice and marginalization. She sees art as the antidote to hopelessness and the balm that allows elders to begin counting the pluses of aging. She cites with enthusiasm the work of scientists such as Dr. Gene Cohen and Candace Pert, bringing empirical, neurological evidence to support this claim.

Lee has been selling her artwork nationwide since 1981. Besides participating on MNCAAN's Board, she is a member of UMAH (Upper Midwest Artist in Healthcare) and Vine Arts Center (a non-profit resource center with a gallery in the Ivy Building in South Minneapolis). Lee completed art teacher training at Rhode Island School of Design, studied advertising at School of Visual Arts, and studied life drawing at the Art Student's League. Lee has over fifteen years of non-profit experience as an educator and counselor. She holds a master's degree in psychology from St. Mary's University and is GCDF certified. She was awarded the "Star of Chrysalis" for her work empowering and mentoring women and children. She completed the Twin West Chamber of Commerce yearlong leadership program. Additionally, Lee acted in an award-winning short film and has had her poetry and drawings published.

Lee's gentle heARTful and inclusive teaching style builds social connections and encourages people to participate fully in the magic of creative expression. She believes that inside of each of us is a divine creative spark just waiting to come out and play. Engaging individuals, from kindergarteners to adolescents and elders, in creative exploration, she helps them to make the mind/body/spirit connections, process complex emotions, and navigate challenging transitions.

"Ninety percent of the people I teach," says Lee, "tell me that as early as kindergarten they got the message from others that they were not 'artists.' This shut them down from expressing themselves creatively. The ten percent labeled 'the artists' felt a lot of pressure to always produce beautiful art." To undo these damaging messages, Lee teaches art as a playful, fun-filled experience of experimentation and socialization. Participants in Lee's "play shops" describe them as "fun!! ...Lee's the queen of celebrations...better than bingo...inspiring...uplifting...soul food...a place to feel good about who I am and what I can do."