Leslie McCallen Gilbert
Painterly Realism in Oil
Nashville Tennessee

Biographical Sketch:

My love of art began in childhood. And while growing up in Nashville, Tennessee I was fortunate to have the encouragement of both my parents, especially my father, artist and illustrator Charles McCallen. Since my high school years I have immersed myself in art and have grown under the watchful eyes of some wonderful teachers and mentors to develop a style and method of my own.

Presently and for the last decade my work has consisted primarily of oils on canvas, although I occasionally explore other mediums.

I enjoy painting cityscapes, street scenes, landscapes, architecture and still lifes. I employ a realistic, yet painterly style - in the vein of the impressionists - through which I strive to capture the light and depth of my subjects.

I am a lifelong resident of Nashville. I left the area briefly to study art and photography at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1990. I have continued to study art independently and through classes and workshops in painting and drawing. For six years I studied under the tutelage of renowned portrait artist Michael Shane Neal here in Nashville.

I have shown my work locally at the annual Harding Academy Art Show, the University School of Nashville's Artclectic Show, the Central South Art Exhibition, Belle Meade Plantation, and the Temple Arts Festival at The Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom. My work is shown at Local Color Gallery on Broadway in Nashville and at Bennett Galleries in Knoxville, TN.