Featured Artist of the month
Each month we feature one artist from our Community Artists page here on our website, in our monthly newsletter, on Instagram, and on Facebook. We will also host an artist’s talk with them over Zoom so our audience can get to know them better. Check back at the beginning of each month for a new artist to learn about. And view artists from past months here.
April 2026: Aliandra Starre
We are thrilled to present Aliandra Starre as our Featured Artist of April 2026. Read on to learn about Aliandra and to see a selection of her artwork. Mark your calendars for an artist’s talk on Zoom with Aliandra on Monday, May 4th at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. Register ahead of time on Zoom by following this link.
Artist’s Statement
I first came to the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing in 1986. My aim at the time was to delve into painting for a year, and see what might happen. I had spent most of my young life at that point moving from one country to another, and had never been able to spend enough time on the things I was interested in before having to pick up and move somewhere else, where that thing might not even exist. I was longing to deeply immerse myself in art, and what I found at the school changed my life. I ended up staying in Aix-en-Provence for over five years, and though I eventually returned to the U.S., and also took a very long break from oil painting, the principles that I learned at the school had become ingrained in me, and proved their universality by resurfacing again and again in the other modalities and art forms that I encountered subsequently. Reverence for the harmony of nature, the whole being more than the sum of its parts, balancing chaos and order, and improvising in the moment (to mention just a few) were all components of the various forms of dance, healing modalities, and spiritual/mystical traditions I pursued.
In 2021, I was fortunate enough to be able to return to Aix. I had realized that painting, in the way I had learned at the Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing, was the most challenging yet most satisfying thing I had ever done, and I was curious to experience it again. Almost five years later, I continue to find incredible, never-ending depth in painting from the visible world. There are so many dimensions operating simultaneously during the creation of a painting, that I usually don’t have words to describe what I believe it is all about. The maddening infrequency of a truly successful painting is very humbling, but the process is always worth it.
- Aliandra Starre, April 2026
Selected Work
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Artist’s Talk on Zoom
Join us for an artist’s talk on Zoom with Aliandra on Monday, May 4th at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. Register ahead of time on Zoom by following this link.
Previous Featured Artists
To view featured artists from past months, click here.
March 2026: Brian Morrissey
February 2026: Suzie Buchholz
January 2026: Mary Wallman
October/November 2025: Susan Crapo (posthumously)
September 2025: Jennifer Warren
August 2025: Karen Silve
June/July 2025: Mary Hamilton
May 2025: Kayla Noble
April 2025: Michèle Hénot Gasparach
March 2025: Ciara Ruddock
February 2025: Barry Hart
December 2024/January 2025: Alan Roberts
November 2024: Ben Haggard
October 2024: Amelia Myre
September 2024: Becky Hagenston
August 2024: Paul Umbarger
June/July 2024: Featured Exhibition in Aix-en-Provence
May 2024: Sharon Rawlins
April 2024: Kate Butler
March 2024: Pauline Bétrancourt
February 2024: Jenna Grotelueschen
January 2024: Mary Leone Duffy
December 2023: Elizabeth Ivers
November 2023: Cole Carothers
October 2023: Grace Darden
September 2023: King David
August 2023: Chris Coffey
July 2023: Jim Toub
June 2023: Jennifer Neel
May 2023: Jan Brogan
April 2023: Sophia Hall
March 2023: Lucy Clare Spooner
February 2023: Samantha Van Heest
December 2022: Hilary Stein
November 2022: Nick Cruz Velleman
October 2022: Miranda Blas
September 2022: Samuel Bjorklund