MIRA LEHR Biography
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’s work is represented by galleries in New York, Florida, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. This year, 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.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008 Tanglewood, Sanford Smith Fine Art, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
2008 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
2006 Mira Lehr for Odegard, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York
2006 Between the Meadow and the Moon, Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida
2005 Mira Lehr for Odegard, Paradeisos, Celebrating Art Basel, Miami, Florida
2005 Moon and Bellflower Variations, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, New York
2003 World Game: Celebrating Art Basel, Odegard, Miami, Florida
2003 Affinities with the East, Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida
1997 New Work, Dorothy Blau Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
1997 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
2009-10 The American Embassy, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 Preview, Rohm Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2008 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
2007 Silent Art Auction to benefit the RugMark Foundation, Odegard, Miami, Florida
2006 Art Loves Design, Art Basel, Holly Hunt, Miami, Florida
2006 Our Gang, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, New York
2006 The Continuum Gallery Continues, Futernick Art Gallery, Miami, Florida
2006 Art Palm Beach 3, Palm Beach, Florida
2004 Holiday Salon, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2004 FLOW: The Art Show, Oct. 7, 2004-January 6, 2005, entry titled “Man of War,” SunTrust Plaza Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2004 It’s for the Birds, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida
2004 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, Florida,
Arthur and Mata Jaffe Collection of Books as Aesthetic Objects, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
2002 Recent Works of the Continuum Artists, Frances Wolfson Gallery, Miami Dade Community College, Miami, Florida
2002 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 Javits 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, Florida
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
PUBLICATIONS:
Cover Image Poets on the Psalms ,Trinity University Press, 2008
Miami Contemporary Artists, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen,Pennsylvania 2007
Artist in Residence, Flying Horse Editions, Orlando, Florida, 2007
Featured Artist, New American Paintings, The Open Studio Press, New York, NY 2007
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mira Lehr Oral History Interview Conducted by Irving Sandler, For the archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C, December 6 & 7, 2007
Mira Lehr Oral History Interview Conducted by Irving Sandler, For the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California, December 6 & 7, 2007
ARTNews“Jungle of Mystics”, September 2007, p. 53
Art in America “Dreamscapes” September 2007, p. 66
Cantor, Melissa, “A Painter’s Eye” Miami Herald: Home & Design, September 2007, p. 53
Cohen, David, “Art Starts on September 6,” The New York Sun , August 31, 2007, p.1
New American Paintings, Juried Exhibition-in-Print, Vol. 70. 2007. The Open Studios Press, Boston, MA.
Davidow, Jullie and Clemence, Paul, Contemporary Miami Artists, Schiffer Publishing, 2007
Henry, Saxon, “Art Basel Miami: So Many Affairs, So Little Time,” Art Info Magazine, December 12, 2006
Casa Mia Décor, Dessie’ Magazine, November 2006, Milan, Italy, p 24-25
Florida International Magazine, All About Art, FIM Florida Artists Hall of Fame,” November 2006 Vol. 09.11 p 104
Culture and Travel, September/October 2006, Volume 1, Number 1, p. 14
The New York Times Magazine, September 24, 2006/ Section 6, Art and Culture p. 4 & 5
Turner, Elisa, “Bass unfurls a thoroughly modern exhibit of tapestries,” The Miami Herald, September 24, 2006, Tropical Life
Russell, Candice, “Rugs and Paintings,” Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, September 2, 2006, Lifestyle section
Curtiss, Courtney Powers, “Mira Lehr Visual Imprints” Florida Design’s Miami Home & Décor, Spring/Summer 2006 p.179-186
Jaffe, Tali, InsideOut, Magazine, “An Artist’s Retreat,” May 2006 p.120-125
Art In America, “Jersey” and “Sea,” May 2006 p. 90, 97
Colon, Yahnilet, “Woman’s Art Shines for Decades”, The Miami Herald, May 11, 2006 p.8
Stieglitz, Sheila, “The Continuum continues with art exhibition at JCC,” Palmetto Bay News, May 2-8, 2006 p.2
Turner, Elisa, “Critic’s Pick,” Miami Herald, May 5, 2006, weekend section p.32
“The AI Eye: Editor’s Picks of Art for Sale,” Photo Gallery, April 12, 2006, p.2
Russell, Candice, “Abstract artist seeks ‘spiritual landscape’,” Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, April 8, 2006 p. C1
“Mira Lehr, l’ultima collezione,” Home, April 2006, p. 17
“Enchanted April, Market Scout,” Elements of Living, April 2006, p.33
Henry, Saxon, “Designs on Life,” Distinction Magazine, New York, April 2006, p.167
Henry, Saxon, “Mira Lehr,” Home& Design, The Miami Herald, March 2006, p.26
Pritchett, Kathryn Loosli, “Things Elemental”, Contra Costa Times, February 11, 2006
Catalogue- Nieves Billmyer. Woudrichem Towers Exhibition. From The Jan Verhoeven Collection. 28 May-June 2005, pp 19-21.
Cullum, Jerry, “Wonders in a Wet World,” AccessAtlanta, November 4, 200,4 p. 20
“Making an Intercontinental Connection,” Florida Design, Vol. 14, No. ,3 p. 283
Russell, Candice, “The Flap About Birds,” The Sun Sentinel, July 18, 2004
It’s for the Birds: A Group Invitational Traveling Exhibition, catalogue, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, 2004.
Florida Design,”Mira Lehr: Visual Imprints -- Earthly and Botanical, the Artist’s Paintings Blur the Line Between the Figurative and the Abstract,” Courtney Curtiss, December, 2003
Russell, Candice, “Mira Lehr,” City Link, April 2-8, 2003, p 74
Turner, Elisa, “Gallery Review,” The Miami Herald, March 30, 2003, p.10 m
Visual Art, “Art Beat,” The Miami Herald, March 23, 2003 p. 3 m
Llanes, Miguel S., “La residencia del presidente de FIU,” el Nuevo Herald, April 13, 2002, p. 1E, illus. p. 1E
Turner, Elisa, “Art at Work: Fine Art Enlivening Corporate Settings,” The Miami Herald, May 23, 2000, pp. 1-2E, illus. p. 2E
Kiley, Dan, The Complete Works of America’s Landscape Architect, Bulfinch Press, Little Brown and Company, 1999, pp. 154-157
Tommaney, Jim, “New Work by Mira Lehr at Continuum Gallery,” Entertainment News and Views, July 4-10, 1997, p. 3
Turner, Elisa, “Mira Lehr’s Water World Reflects Beauty, Despair,” The Miami Herald, June 20, 1997, p. 9L
Guy Cooper and Gordon Taylor, Paradise Transformed: The Private Garden for the Twenty-first Century, Monacelli Press, 1996, pp.128-129
Kohen, Helen, “Go Figure,” The Miami Herald, March 31, 1995, p. 14G
Review, “Juarez Curates COCA Show,” Wire, December 8, 1994, p. 10
Delaplaine, Andrew, “The Myriad Colors of Mira Lehr,” YES Magazine, cover story, Vol. 1, No. 4, August 5, 1994, pp. 8-11
Kohen, Helen, “Lehr at Continuum,” The Miami Herald, May 13, 1994
Turner, Elisa, “Lehr’s Paintings Tantalize the Eye,” The Miami Herald, September 12, 1991, p.5F
Review, “Night Paintings by Mira Lehr,” Wire, September 11, 1991, pp. 20-21
Blanc, Giulio V., “Bombs and Oranges,” Arts Magazine, November 1990, p. 78
Who’s Who in American Art 1991-1992, 19th Edition, R. R. Bowker, div. Reed Publishing Co., 1990, p. 657
The Best in The World, “An Impulse Towards Figuration,” Curtis Publishing, Paris, France, Sept/Oct/Nov 1990, p. 109
Simmons, Ann, “Artists Find Creative Niche on Lincoln Road,” The Miami Herald, May 18, 1989, p. 18C
Kohen, Helen, “Outstanding Show at Four Arts,” The Miami Herald, December 4, 1987, p.8D
Lacher, Irene, “Here Women Make Art Their Business,” The Miami Herald, May 14, 1987
Burg, Monika, “Eureka Exhibition,” The Arts Newsletter, January 1986
Kohen, Helen, “Women’s Group Show Lives Up to Fine Setting,” The Miami Herald September 8, 1985, p. 2K
Review, “Women in the Mainstream 1884-1984,” Louisiana World Exposition, Inc. May 1984, Kohen, Helen, “Water, Water Everywhere at New Orleans’ Fair – Lehr’s a Winner,” The Miami Herald, April 5, 1984, p. 27
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Sloan Kettering Memorial, New York, New York
GenSpring Family Offices
Seaside Banks, Florida
The American Embassy, Brussels, Belgium
Stichting Yellow-Fellow. Woudrichem, The Netherlands
Vassar College Library, Archives & Special Collections, Poughkeepsie, NY
Art Enterprises, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
The Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, Florida
Bacardi Collection, Miami, Florida
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Barnes /Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri
Inter Terra Corporation, Miami, Florida
Kislak National Bank, Miami Lakes, Florida
Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, New York, New York
SunTrust Banks, Florida
Tyler Museum of Art, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas
SELECTED RECOGNITIONS, AWARDS AND HONORS
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
