about Bonnie

It is said that Craft is about Perfection, and Art is about Expression

Bonnie Lebesch is an arts and crafts maker in Fort Collins, Colorado. Mostly dedicated to non-objective abstract painting, she veers into objective-conceptual work when a series calls for it, such as the Gun Show.

Both directions are equally important in her work, spontaneous experimentation with paint vs meticulous planning and execution with pencil or hand stitching. Working in both directions at once allows her to temper each with the opposite force. With that balance, she is able to push each side to its extremes.

In the Love Letter series, she paints with acrylic on plywood panels so she can rip up the veneer to use as collage material. With complete disregard for the underpainting, she re-patterns the painting into something entirely different.

For the Gun Show she takes the opposite approach, meticulously designing and hand-stitching pieces that can take 10 months to complete. It is a meditation on repetition and careful examination.

Here, Bonnie also uses another favorite pair of oppositional forces, the play of concept versus material. She uses traditional materials and techniques to express conflicting content. In this series, the cultural tradition of hand-stitching is pitted against modern day societal biases, drawing the audience into conflicting emotions simultaneously.

Regardless of medium or content, Bonnie's works are stunning and expressive, and draw the viewer into deeper investigations.


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