ARTIST BIO

Lee Pohlsander is a Phoenixville-based mixed media artist who uses composition and color to direct the eye and engage the viewer in her abstract, expressionist pieces. Birds, ladders, classical statues, and the female form are often found throughout Lee’s work, which is focused on emotion and memory. Acrylic paint, print making, and oil pastels are just a few of the mediums she uses to connect with her audience and invite conversation through layering, bold color separation, and sharp lines and edges.
Growing up, Lee was inspired to create through her many trips to museums, and the modern art collection of Nelson Rockefeller broadened her view of art even further. In the past, she’s worked as an advertising art director, a digital designer, and an illustrator, and she also received a BFA from Syracuse University. Her solo show at The Gallery at Creative Light Factory, which featured an artist’s talk and a staged reading of Samuel Beckett’s “EndGame,” was a highlight moment in her artistic career.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My art is a conversation between the past, present, and future, a fixed point that connects me, the artist, with you, my audience. Light, shadows, colors, lines; these are tools I use to shape a story. Sometimes, that story is rooted in a memory or an emotion. Other times, it’s a reflection of history—both society’s and my own. That spark is the beginning of a conversation between myself and the piece in front of me, a conversation that continues on to each viewer.
I use acrylic paint, print making, and oil pastels to interpret these conversations, layering the different mediums to highlight or obscure the unique facets of each painting. Birds, ladders, classical statues, and the female form are common subjects for me to begin with. From there, I reinterpret these elements into a more abstract and expressionist piece, using composition and color to direct the eye and engage the viewer. As the work evolves, it becomes more than the memory it started with, past colliding with present in a flow of emotion and connection.
Through it all, I strive for connection: connection with my past, connection with the piece in front of me, and connection with my audience. With every layer, I hope to invite a little more conversation with my viewer and give them a foothold to explore their own past and emotions through my art.
“Victory’s Flower” is a statement on resilience in the the face of trauma.

Phoenixville, PA / United States