About the Artist

---

Yeleezaveta (Leeza) Woodard is an oil painter based in Tacoma, Washington, where she was raised. As the daughter of a woodcarver and watercolor painter, her exposure to the art world began early. She committed herself to a career in painting when she was 15.

Her academic training began in Florence, Italy at the Florence Classical Arts Academy, where she studied Russian techniques of drawing and painting. Following her graduation from the FCAA, she continued her education at the Madrid Academy of Art, where she quickly excelled and was invited to begin teaching there after three months in attendance.

Her time at the MAA, however, was short-lived. After five years in strict academic circles, Leeza yearned for creative liberty outside of classical walls. She returned to her hometown, where she now works out of her studio on 6th avenue. 

While her work is usually representational, she often finds her motive more akin to abstract and expressive painters than their realist counterparts. Her primary goal is to express, through color and mark-making, a language that can’t be written down or spoken, but rather stands on its own as a powerful mode of visual communication.