Leila Kleiman

 

 

 

 Painter, glass artist, and mixed media artist -- brings another whole dimension to the art in CrossRoads Gallery, especially with her fused glass work.

Having had the opportunity to study with Allan Hauser, Leila discovered stone work and the 3-D world of the sculptor. She says, “Stone teaches the removal of that which is not inherently necessary, leaving the form to emerge from the background.”

 

The effect of that way of thinking was to emphasize line over color, which forever changed the focus of her artwork. Taking it a step further, the combination of original dyed paper designs, combined structurally with collage and etching has become a marriage of Leila’s two-dimensional and three-dimensional work.

 

 

Kleiman has said the wall work is “sculpture in two-dimensional form.” All of her present pieces follow a flat format, much influenced by Japanese wood block prints. “The negative space,” she notes, “is as important as the space filled with color and line,” giving the viewer an expressionistic impression of her travels.

 

 

Leila has been a successful selling artist in Ojai for many years and is now a Tehachapi resident, with studio space in Tehachapi Art Center (where she will soon begin teaching precious metal clay classes). Her work is on display in Ojai still, as well as CrossRoads and TAC.