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LEESE, Kit

1957 - ?

Kit Leese

Christopher Leese was born at Nottingham in 1957, the year that the family moved to Suffolk, son of Leonard Leese and his wife Bessie née Hulbert (born 9 July 1932), who married at Nottingham in 1956. Kit, as he is known, began painting at Ipswich School as an extra subject to go with his exclusively science based 'A' levels and went on to complete an honours degree in marine zoology at Bangor University. Kit grew up surrounded by the East Anglian landscape, which is now a major subject of his work, and is a member of the Ipswich Art Club and exhibited from 6 Valley Close, Brantham, near Ipswich in 1977 'Across the Menai Strait' and a further picture the following year. Kit began a technical and management-based career in the water industry in 1979, at the same time continued to develop his painting, adding etching and aquatint to his repertoire. A founder member of the printmakers group Twelve Printmakers 12PM, which led to his successful first one-man show at the Hadleigh Old School in 1982. He consolidated his reputation with frequent group and one-man exhibitions until the mid-1990s which included three successful shows at Hayletts Gallery, Maldon, Essex between 1989 and 1993. He made full use of the mountains of North Wales to develop a feel for landscape painting, particularly in gouache and has branched out into mixed media and abstract work. The main body of his painting remains rooted in landscapes, painted on the spot to preserve immediacy and a sense of place and in 2012 become a full-time professional artist. Recent solo shows include the D'Arcy Gallery, Ipswich, the Aldeburgh Gallery, and the Swan House Gallery, Beccles. Kit has exhibited in mixed exhibitions at the George Farnham Gallery, Saxmundham, the Sentinel Gallery, Wivenhoe and elsewhere. He married in the Reading district in 1981, Ceri A. Blackmore and they now have their own gallery at Chippin, Heath Road, Bradfield, near Manningtree, Essex where he offers tutored painting workshops, a drop-in-and-paint club from The Old School Studio, Old School Lane, High Street, Whittlesford, Cambridge.
Website: https://www.kitleese.com



Works by This Artist