Mary Lehner adds her creativity to area art culture

Using watercolors or acrylic paint, Mary Lehner paints in a style that she calls “interpreted realism.” She paints still lifes, architectural subjects, landscapes, seascapes and tropical scenes with eye-catching colors in a style that borders on impressionism.

Lehner, 47, is a California transplant who moved into her Greenacres home with her family in 2004. She had friends from Spokane and, after visiting, decided that the area had good potential for business.

She and her husband, John, are entrepreneurial; he is a health and wellness consultant and she does marketing and advertising. Both have already formed solid business foundations, and Lehner quickly found a place for herself in the art scene.

“I sort of pushed my way in,” she said, “all they could say was ‘No.’ ”

Lehner has always been a go-getter. Her first job was in a coffee shop when she was 14 years old. Drawing was a hobby that she further developed in high school. Though she was not an A student in art, her desire to increase her ability inspired her to earn an illustration degree from California’s Orange Coast College, where she sharpened her skills in drawing, architectural representation, painting, printmaking and graphic design.

With a strong creative foundation, she sold her abilities to scores of clients in California as an advertiser, graphic designer and corporate illustrator. For a while, she had her own ad agency. She worked hard, and her desire to create never waned.

With her thick portfolio in hand, she approached galleries and high-end restaurants in Irvine, La Jolla and Huntington Beach. She showed and sold her work steadily, mostly to the restaurants.

Since coming to Spokane, she has shown her work at Gallery at Joel, Latah Bistro, the Fox Gallery, Max at Mirabeau restaurant and at the Sunset Gallery in Harrison, Idaho. Recently, she won Best of Show at the Spokane Watercolor Society Regional Juried Watermedia Exhibition.

She is now showing through Tuesday at the Goodworks gallery in downtown Spokane. The show is called “In the Quiet,” and the theme is the influence that other people have had on Lehner’s life.

The artist’s statement for the show reads: “When we stop in our day, long enough to enjoy the quiet, when the ordinary becomes the exquisite, in the simple places where we hear our life change, taking time to enjoy a moment is when we fall in love with life, with one another.” She used the phrase “with one another” because, ” ‘one another’ is prevalent in the Bible. We need to care for one another.”

Though Lehner has sold only four pieces since moving to the area, she is hopeful. She believes that artists in Spokane need to be invigorated. She’s not sure how, but no doubt she’ll be a part of it.

She is noticing that Spokane artists are going into outside markets. “We need to support one another, and that includes artists, small businesses and the community.”

In the short time that she has been here, Lehner has already found local artists, Kathleen Cavender and Laura Nuchols, who encourage and inspire her. She hopes also, that her work encourages and inspires others.