About
Printmaker, painter, book artist; I am a multi-faceted artist who incorporates watercolor, oil, gouache, printmaking, letterpress, book arts, drawing and collage in my toolbox. I make work about life experiences and ideas that encompass politics, self care, childhood traumas, childhood memories, stories of place, and adventures. Choice of media is ususally determined by the subject and/or access to equipment and or and space, but in general, I like variety. Shifting media and subject matter parallels how I live, always changing my spaces and adapting to the “new”.
I was born in Honolulu and grew up on Oahu and the Big Island of Hawaii. In fifth grade I changed from a public to a private Catholic school where I had to learn French. The melodic sounds of this new language completely seduced me. One could call me a Francophile at age ten. In college I studied abroad for a semester at an American art school in the South of France, a decision that set the pattern of returning to France over and over.
Four years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia was a wonderful period of intense learning: drawing the nude, painting the model, copying plaster cast, composing still lifes and molding the figure in clay. Upon completion from PAFA, I landed a dream job at the Fabric Workshop, teaching apprentices the art of screen printing on fabric while assisting “blue chip” artists with major projects. An even dreamier job was offered to teach printmaking in Provence at the same school where I studied abroad. When that two year gig ended, I moved to the sunny, hot, hot desert of the Southwest and got my MFA in Printmaking from the University of Arizona in Tucson. I taught art at Pima Community College and assisted conservators at the National Parks Conservation Lab. Those jobs were very supportive of an artist but I took the big leap and moved to France where I am enjoying the beauty of Provence, France while painting, making prints and artists’ books.
Maria Lee, Lacoste, France 2024
EDUCATION
2002 MFA (printmaking), University of Arizona School of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1991 Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1982 Lacoste School of the Arts in France, Lacoste, France
1984 BFA, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2011 Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, artist-in-residence, Saratoga, Wyoming
2006 Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts, Miramonte, California
2007 Tucson Pima Arts Council mini grant, Tucson, Arizona
2005 Villa Montalvo, artist-in-residence, Saratoga, California
2004 Tucson Pima Arts Council mini grant, Tucson, Arizona
2003 Jentel Foundation, artist-in-residence, Banner, Wyoming
2001 Graduate College MFA Fellow Scholarship, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Medici Scholar Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
2000 Medici Scholar Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
1991 J. Henry Scheidt Memorial Traveling Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Solo and two person EXHIBITIONS
2024 Le Goûter, ChezMechtild, Goult, France
2023 haiku et tableux, with Karen Merveille, La Cure, Lacoste, France 2019 Print, Printing, Printed, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico
It’s time to be fealress, Tiny Town Surplus Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
2018 Woke, Carr-Rhoads Church House, Tucson, Arizona
2016 Allies, with Jo Andersen, Dragonfly Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
2015 Of Land, Sea and Sky, Forever Able Wellness Center, Tucson, Arizona
Convergent, with Dana Cohn, The Raven, Prescott, Arizona
2014 From Field to Table, with Nancy Bobo, Caffe Lucé, Tucson, Ariaona
2011 Landscapes of Provence, Bon, Tucson, Arizona
2009 Kalaupapa: Keep In! Keep Out!, Pauahi Tower, Honolulu, Hawaii
2008 Peintures: Paysages et Lumieres du Luberon, Atelier du Cheval Blanc, Goult, France
2007 Kalaupapa: Keep In! Keep Out!, Louis Bernal Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona
2003 A Wing and A Prayer, Kachina Gallery, University of AZ Student Union, Tucson, Arizona
2002 Offerings, MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1996 Mezzotints, Artists' House Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Group EXHIBITIONS (selected)
2023 Art Lacoste, The Temple, Lacoste, France 2022 [ih - maj - in], The Poetry Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
2021 Narratives of the Possible: Artists' Books, Laramie County Library Invitational, Cheyenne, Wyoming
2020 Fast Forward, Light Art Space Gallery, Silver City, New Mexico
AZ Printmakers Invitational, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
Print, Printed, Printing, Highlands University New Mexico, Las Vegas, New Mexico
2017 Amplify & Multiply, recent printed activist ephemera, I.D.E.A. at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado
2015 About Books, Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona
Faculty Exhibition, Yavapai College, Prescott, Arizona
Action, Excitement & Entertainment, Herberger Performing Arts Center, Phoenix, Arizona
2014 Crumpled, Dented & Crushed, Herberger Performing Art Center, Phoenix, Arizona
YAYBIG Print Exchange, El Pueblo Viejo vs El Chico, Tucson, AZ and El Paso, Texas
2013 UNBOUND: Artists’ Books, curator Mary Jane Edwards, SAGEbrush Art Center, Sheridan, Wyoming
2012 Out of Square: Artists’ Books from Various Angles, Harry Wood Gallery, ASU, Tempe, Arizona
2011 Feel, Paper Guns Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
Delight - becomes pictorial-, (Emily Dickinson Invitational, the Big Read), Kore Press, Tucson, Arizona
Printmakers and their Collections, Louis C. Bernal Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona
2010 Pop Up Now!, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland, Oregon
San Diego Book Arts Third National Juried Exhibition, Geisel Library, Unicersity of California - San Diego, California
Sculptural Books: Memory and Desire, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
2009 National Invitational Postcard Exhibition, City Hall Bridge Gallery, Las Vegas, Nevada
2007 Botanical Prints, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Phoenix, Arizona
2005 Honolulu Printmaker's 77th Annual Exhibition, juried, Academy Art Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
2004 Six Degrees of Separation, Ingham Chapman Gallery, University of NM, Gallup, New Mexico
2003 Dog Head Stew, Institute for American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Dog Head Stew, an invitational print exchange portfolio from West Virginia University, Massachusettes
Dog Head Stew, Southern Graphics Print Council, Boston, Massachusettes
2002 Small Works Invitational, GOCAIA Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
Janet Turner 4th National Print Competition & Exhibition, juror: Joan Prior, 1078 Gallery, California State University, Chico, California
Monothon 16, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
2001 New Work, Artists' House Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (selected)
Currently offers workshops in book arts
2022 Print, Printed, Printing Conference, Highlands University New Mexico, Las Vegas, NM, (2016, 2018, 2020)
2014-2019 Instructor, Tucson Community Printshop, Tucson, AZ
2014-2015 Adjunct Professor, Printmaking, Yavapai College, Prescott AZ
2002-2019 Adjunct Professor, Pima Community College, West Campus (Basic Design, Printmaking)
2010-2014 Assistant/lab tech, Jack Sinclair Letterpress Lab, University of Arizona, AZ
2011, 2013 Teacher/artist, Artworks, University of AZ, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, Tucson, AZ
1999-2002 Teaching Assistant, Printmaking, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
2002. Monothon 16, the Printmaking Center, College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2001 Frogman's Press Workshop, participant, Vermilion, SD
Assistant to Jack Lemon, master printer, Lasting Impressions Portfolio, UA,Tucson, AZ
2000 Intern (printmaking), Landfall Press, Chicago, IL
1997 Professor, Printmaking, Bard College at Lacoste, School of the Arts in France, Lacoste, France
1993-1996 Printer/Screen Printing Instructor, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Phila., PA
1993 Artists' assistant, Ann Hamilton, tropos, DIA Center for the Arts, NY, with The Fabric & Museum, Philadelphia, PA
COLLECTIONS
The Poetry Center, University of Arizona
Honorable Anne Cox Chambers, St. Remy, France
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Hawaii Preparatory Academy, School of Art
Jentel Foundation
Raumanga Campus, Whangarei, New Zealand
Southern Graphics Print Council
Tucson Museum of Art
University of Arizona Museum of Art
West Virginia University Permanent Collection