Mira Lehr

Mira Lehr was born in New York but has lived most of her life in Miami. She is a graduate of Vassar College and has studied painting with Robert Motherwell, James Brooks, Roberto Juarez, and James and Nieves Billmyer (long time students of Hans Hofmann.) She participated with Buckminster Fuller on the first World Game Scenario Project at the New York Studio School.

Lehr is represented by galleries in New York, Florida, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. Her work is featured in the permanent collection at the Miami Art Museum. In 2008 her oral history conducted by Irving Sandler was included in the archives of the Getty Museum and Research Center in Los Angeles and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington D.C. She is also featured in the book, “Miami Contemporary Artists” published by Schiffer Publishers in 2007 and was juried into the "New American Paintings Exhibition in Print" by Charlotta Kotik, curator of contemporary art at the Brooklyn Museum.

In addition to numerous private and public collections, Lehr’s paintings were recently included in the collection of the GenSpring Family Offices and a major work, Cosmic Energy, was recently purchased by Sloan Kettering Memorial Center in New York. Lehr has also been chosen by the Art in Embassies program to exhibit her work in the American Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria from 2008-2010. Rugs based on Lehr’s designs and produced by Stephanie Odegard in Nepal can be seen throughout the world in many private and public collections.

Lehr has been described as a visual poet. She uses nature based images to explore the possibilities of painterly experiments. The subtle color harmonies combined with veils of Japanese paper contrast with the expressionistic splashes, drips, and fluidity of the grounds. The tensions balanced between the abstract and the illusion, the hidden and the revealed, the hard edged and the soft focus all add to the mystery and the resonance of the work.

Lehr’s work has continued to evolve; gunpowder and fuses have become a more significant part of both the process and the final product. The new works, particularly Frozen in the Fire and Sulfur and Ice prominently display the line left behind by the fuse – a line that departs from Lehr’s earlier work somewhat through its simplicity and muted color palette – that still ties itself to her oeuvre through its organic shape and the use of her signature of burnt paper. Tropic of Capricorn acts as a bridge between these two types of works – those that feature the simplicity of the fuse and her more layered works that express her continued interest in the mysteries and beauties of nature.

As an element, fire is used in her work to engage the viewer – its connection to the active nature of burning brings to mind the active in the viewer. Make no mistake – this is a controlled burn. Though the work may have changed, the formal elements of artwork are as important as they always have been. The space between the forms and the shapes these spaces make are taken into account throughout the process and are a significant part of the final product.

CV

EDUCATION

• Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, B.A. Art History

• The Boston Museum School, Massachusetts, Postgraduate work

• Robert Motherwell, painting

• James Brooks, painting

• Nieves and James Billmyer, annual workshops

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011

Burnt Offerings, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, NY

2010

New Work, Sanford Smith Fine Art, Great Barrington, MA

Fire and Heat by Three, The Bascom Visual Art Center, Highlands, NC

Artful Explosions, Guthrie Contemporary Art, New Orleans, Louisiana

2009

New Works, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, NY

Synergies, Rohm Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana

2008

Tanglewood, Sanford Smith Fine Art, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

GenSpring Family Offices, Grand Opening, Sarasota, Florida

2007

Dreamscapes, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, New York

2006

Modern Masters of Tapestry, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida

Mira Lehr for Odegard, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York

Between the Meadow and the Moon, Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida

2005

Mira Lehr for Odegard, Paradeisos, Celebrating Art Basel, Miami, Florida

Moon and Bellflower Variations, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, New York

2003

World Game: Celebrating Art Basel, Odegard, Miami, Florida

Affinities with the East, Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida

1997

New Work, Dorothy Blau Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
Icarus, Continuum Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida

1996

Past and Present, Continuum Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida

1995

Orientations, Continuum Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida

1993

Sources, Continuum Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida

1991

Night Paintings, Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011

Texas National 17th Annual Competition & Exhibition, Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas

60th All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL

2010

10th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition,Thomas Center Galleries, Gainsville,FL.July 2010

Texas National 2010, April. 10, -May. 22, 2010, The Cole Art Center, Nacogdoches, TX

National Open Small Works, N.A.W.A. Gallery, New York, NY

Navel Gazing : Artists Visions of Florida, Brevard Museum of Art, Melbourne, FL

Without a Trace; Artist image a world without us, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida

2009

Flomenhaft Salon, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, New York

Art on Paper, The Armory, New York, New York

Art 20, The Armory, New York, New York

2008-10

Art in Embassies, The American Embassy, Sofia, Bulgaria

2008

Preview, Rohm Gallery, New Orleans, LA

In the Eye of the Beholder, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL

2007

New American Paintings Juried Exhibitions in Print, Juried by Charlotta Kotik, Brooklyn Museum

Silent Art Auction to benefit the RugMark Foundation, Odegard, Miami, Florida

2006

Art Loves Design, Art Basel, Holly Hunt, Miami, Florida

Our Gang, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, New York

The Continuum Gallery Continues, Futernick Art Gallery, Miami, Florida

Art Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach, Florida

2004

Holiday Salon, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA

FLOW: The Art Show, Oct. 7, 2004-January 6, 2005, entry titled “Man of War,” SunTrust Plaza Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia

It’s for the Birds, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida

Legal Art: Books and Sculptures on the Theme of Law, silent auction, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida

2003

Turning Pages:  Celebrating South Florida Artist-Made Books, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida

Travels to:

•Bienes Center for the Literary Arts, Broward County Main Library, Ft. Lauderdale, Florid,

•Arthur and Mata Jaffe Collection of Books as AestheticObjects, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida

2002

Recent Works of the Continuum Artists, Frances Wolfson Gallery, Miami Dade Community College, Miami, Florida

Second Annual Juried Living Room Show:  Celebrating Art Basel, The Living Room, Miami, Florida

1996

Birds, Center Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

1995

Small Works, Bianca Lanza Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida

1994

Paintings After Nature, 6 Artists Miami-New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida

1993

103rd Annual Exhibition of the National Association of Women Artists, Jacob Javits Center, New York, New York
Women’s Caucus for Art Invitational, Broward Community College, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

1991

53rd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings, The Society for the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida

1990

Florida Invitational, Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
52nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings, The Society for the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida
Florida Artists, Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
Hortt Exhibition, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Nada, The Cuban Museum, Miami, Florida

1989

Ceramics as Surface, Tavelli Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
The Way of the Woman Artist, Art and Culture Center, Hollywood, Florida

1988

99th Annual Exhibition of the National Association of Women Artists, Jacob Javit Center, New York, New York
Thomas Center Biennial, Thomas Center Gallery, Gainesville, Florida
The Capitol Gallery Exhibition, Capitol Gallery, Tallahassee, Florida

1987

49th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings, The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida
98th Annual Exhibition of the National Association of Women Artists, Jacob Javits Center, New York, New York
Biennial Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum, Coral Gables, Florida

1986

Works on Paper National Exhibition, University Gallery, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas
Hortt Exhibition, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Women’s History, Gallery at 24, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Thomas Center Biennial, Thomas Center Gallery, Gainesville, Florida

1984

A Century of Women’s Achievements, Women’s Pavilion, Louisiana World’s Fair, New Orleans, Louisiana

Women’s Caucus for Art Travels, The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

46th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings, The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida

SELECTED RECOGNITIONS, AWARDS AND HONORS

2010            Artist in Residence. Bascom: Visuals Arts Center, Highlands, North Carolina, Summer 2, 2010

2009            5th Annual Vassar FilmFest. Invited to screen film “Dreamscapes” and to participate in a panel discussion. Letelier Theatre, Washington, D.C., October 17, 2009.

2007            Simon & Goodman Picture Company. Media video and DVD. Mira Lehr-Dreamscapes:  Interviews with Irving Sandler, Robert Kushner, Roberto Juarez, Alexandra Spivy, Carol Diehl, and Morley Safer.   

2007            Silent Art Auction to Benefit The RugMark Foundation. Odegard, Paradeisos, April 17, Miami FL

2007            A Winner of the 2007 Southern Competition of New American Paintings. Juried by Charlotta Kotik, Chairman of Painting and Sculpture and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

2006            “Paintings into Tapestries” talk at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach FL August 25,

2006            “From Canvas to Textiles” interview for WLRN TV aired on September 18, 2006

2006            “Influences on My Art”, Panelist, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

2005            Off the Beaten Path, Inside the Artist Studio, Bass Museum of Art

2005            Mira Lehr Designs for Stephanie Odegard, Inc.
2002            Vasari Project, Visual Art Archives at Miami-Dade Public Library
1973-98       Trustee, Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places Trust
1991-96       Chairperson, Art in Public Places Committee, Miami Beach, Florida
1993            Grumbacher Award, National Association of Women Artists, New York
1984-90       Grant Letters of Recommendation, Linda Nochlin, New York
1986            First Place, Works on Paper National Exhibition, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas
1966-86       Co-Founder, Continuum Gallery, First Women’s Art Co-op in Southeast, shows and workshops including John Chamberlain, Jack Flam, Betty Parsons, Roman Vishniac
1969            Selected as one of twenty-three participants to work with Buckminster Fuller on the First World Game Scenario Project, New York Studio School, New York, New York