Peel Me A G_ Lavender Oil, Polyester, Egg_58x68_2022
A New Voice_Wood, Linen, Pastel, Lavender Oil, Egg_58 x 72_2022 Body Worship_Lavender Oil, Egg_16x20_2019 Leg Man_Lavender Oil, Egg, Polyester_36x42_2022
Fresh from her “Retrospective: Evanescent Landscapes, VanishingWomen” exhibition at The Bundy Museum, multidisciplinary artist Phoebe Legere is showing a new collection of paintings “Body Worship/New Abstraction” at her ArtLab Gallery, 324 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017 through July 10. You are cordially invited to meet the artist and view her new works.
The latest collection focuses on paintings that celebrate the spiritual relationship between the Body and non-objective painting. The works feature a cosmic approach to gesture and chance.
Phoebe Legere (Abenaki/Cajun) is a multidisciplinary artist whose paintings will be on view at the Bundy Museum of Art, 129 Main Street, Binghamton, NY, through August 7.
Legere uses old master techniques like dissection, perspective, glazes, lavender oil and egg as well acrylic, ink, collage, digital performance and embedded sound files.
Born to artist parents and trained to paint in oil and egg tempera from age 5, Legere had formative friendships with some of the greatest artists of modern times. Her parents met Larry Rivers in Provincetown when they were studying modern abstraction with Hans Hoffman. Many years later, Larry became Phoebe’s teacher, mentor, collaborator and friend. Rivers had this to say about Legere: “She is an intellectual with the heart of child. Legere is what art is all about.”
Legere’s paintings are deeply contemporary; each painting is a comment on the high value of the coordinated action of hand, body, and eye; as well as the aleatory gesture as a gateway to the Unknown.
“Computers have colonized and occupied our minds. The only cure, the only way to restore the health of the Human Soul, is to return to the well spring of all human endeavor: Art and Music,” according to Legere.
Phoebe Legere is also the founder and executive director of the Foundation for New American Art, an arts education nonprofit dedicated to nurturing the visionary artists of tomorrow. She teaches the children traditional Old Master techniques she learned at age 5. Legere is also an Apple Certified Art teacher, bringing digital art skills, video, animation and image manipulation to underserved children who get no art training in their schools.
The Foundation is hosting a two-day cultural diversity “Festival de la Posibilidad” July 16 & 17th at the Clemente Center, 107 Suffolk St., New York, NY 10002. The festival is sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment from The Arts.
According to Founder and Executive Director of FNAA, Phoebe Legere, “We have no words to express our gratitude to the people who helped us and fortified our resolve on our beautiful journey: fourteen years of service as a grassroots nonprofit charity organization! Now, the National Endowment for the Arts joins us as partner. Gracias a todos nuestros amigos y vecinos.”
FNAA grew from a curating and presenting arts organization called the New York Underground Museum to an arts education and cultural resource for children and families.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from Foundation for New American Art that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers.
“Foundation for New American Art in NYC is among the organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”
I would be happy to arrange a visit to Phoebe’s ArtLab to meet Phoebe and see her new collection.
Evanescent Landscapes/Vanishing Women is the name of a beautiful and thoughtful Art Exhibition by The Legendary Phoebe Legere in Binghamton, NY.
Phoebe Legere (Abenaki/Cajun) is a multidisciplinary artist whose paintings of Binghamton area landscapes and Native American subjects will be on view at the Bundy Museum of Art through August 7.
The Bundy Museum of Art is located at 127-129 Main Street, in Binghamton.
Legere is a versatile painter who works in oils, acrylic, mixed media, resin and egg tempera, creating semi-abstract works inspired by her passion for anatomy and landscape.
“Phoebe Legere is a virtuoso. Legere’s line is meticulous, incisive, sensuous, and vibrant. Her works are politically engaged and inspire conversations about women’s issues, diversity, inclusiveness, cultural equity, Native American issues, respect for the environment, and the volatility of consciousness.” – Linda Nochlin
Legere’s paintings are deeply contemporary; each painting is a comment on the validity of handmade painting in a world where we are increasingly dominated by machines.
“Machine-made, mechanistic art and music have colonized and occupied our minds. The only cure, the only way to restore the health of the Human Soul, is to return to the well spring of all human endeavor: Art and Music,” according to Legere. Visit phoebelegereart.com to learn more.
Legere’s music has been compared to “Edith Piaf, Jerry Lee Lewis and Maria Callas” (NY Times) and Frank Zappa (Billboard). Studs Terkel, during a radio broadcast profile of Phoebe on National Public Radio said it best: “She is an American Original.” Legere studied music at Juilliard and painting at Vassar College.
Some of Phoebe Legere’s noteworthy milestones include the following:
-Legere is a grant recipient of a New York State Council of the Arts award for her musical about the Native American Holocaust of New England, “Queen of New England”
-Legere received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her musical epic poem about Water issues, “The Waterclown”
- She is an Acker Award recipient for her musical “Hello, Madame President” about the first African American female president of the U.S.
-David Bowie chose Phoebe Legere for the support act spot on his National Tour
-Legere has appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC, HBO, NPR, PBS
-The 2022 “Best of Manhattan” Entertainment Award was presented to Legere
-Legere co-starred on Nickelodeon’s “Naked Brothers Band”
-Legere scored and starred in the most popular cult movie of all time- “Toxic Avenger’
-As the Creator, Executive Producer, Featured Performer, Host, Writer, and Set Designer, Legere’s educational children’s TV show, “The Color Wheel” has been viewed by tens of thousands
-Legere can be seen playing & singing in “Ghostbusters 2” and can be seen on the “Golden Anniversary Ghostbusters Collectors” DVD
-Legere has collaborated with friends and colleagues considered to be the most creative people of our time: Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Johnny Depp, Hunter Thompson, Allen Ginsberg and Billy Joel to name a few…
-Legere has written, produced and performed on 17 albums of original songs.
Proceeds from sales of her paintings & music go to fund the Foundation for the New American Art, a nonprofit that brings free art and music to at-risk children of low-income communities. “After the financial crisis of 2008 they eliminated art & music to children in most NYC public schools. I believe free access to art & music is every child’s birthright. That’s why I founded the Let Every Child Sing Chorus, Paintbrushes Not Guns and Music Teachers Without Borders which offers free art & music lessons to underserved children,” says executive director Legere.
Legere’s charity was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for their important work bringing cultural equity to communities and recently received a New York Community Trust grant to carry on the Foundation’s work in arts education.
He’s a two-time BLUEGRASS ARTIST OF THE YEAR East Coast Music Award winner, and has played with great folk acts including The Band.
She’s a downtown NYC, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and singer, who has played with John Hartford, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Don Cherry, Steve Martin, and Boston, New York and Cleveland Orchestras.
He’s one of Canada’s premiere fiddle/mandolin players. She’s an award-winning songwriter, poet and painter.
And they’re cousins! Legere features Phoebe and Ray Legere. Each carved unique careers in the music world. Phoebe and Ray recently united to pay tribute to their Acadian roots and created a new Ep of Acadian-influenced music. entitled, ACADIAN MOON on Phoebe’s Big Moose record label.
Phoebe and Ray connected because a family member Léo-Paul Léger, from Moncton, N.B., President of the Famille Legere, googled “Legere.” to see if he could locate any long-lost Legeres displaced during The 1700s’ Great Acadian Diaspora. Léo-Paul found www.phoebelegere.comand invited Phoebe to the Congrès Mondial Acadien.
She put her accordion on her back, hopped on a Greyhound Bus, and sang a song at the reunion, “After about 8 bars, four handsome Legere cousins jumped up and started playing the spoons with me! Everybody was clapping and cheering! It was the greatest party of all time!”
Léo-Paul told Phoebe, she had a Canadian cousin named Ray, who was “the best fiddler in Nova Scotia.” “Leo showed me Ray’s photo. ‘Goodness gracious!’ I said. ‘Ray looks just like daddy when he was young’ So I googled Ray and found www.raylegere.com. Ray is just so nice and brilliantly talented as you can hear for yourself when you listen to our EP ACADIAN MOON!”
Congrés 2014 was in Edmundston, N.B., “I wrote a song for our family. It’s called ‘L’Acadie.’ I played the song at the reunion.” Then Phoebe sent the song to a friend in France, who sent it to a radio programmer in Germany, “He loved it, and he sent it to a radio lady in Canada, and next thing you know she called me up and said, ‘This is so great, won’t you and Ray please do some more songs?!’”
“I called up Ray, ‘May I drive up to Memramcook and play with your band? We’ll record a little album that will be down-to-earth and real, with the flavor of an old-time kitchen party!’”
Well, how could he say no to a cousin!
Songs on the ACADIAN MOON EP are in a mixture of French and English:“Cajun Moon,” and French: “L’Acadie,” “Bel Bel Bel,” and in English: “OK Cupid.”
Please watch “OK CUPID” the first video from Legere at bit.ly/1BUvQ0i . The video is a selfie shot on Phoebe's new Iphone 6. There were also dance scenes from Phoebe's award winning original musical play Shakespeare and Elizabeth - choreographed by Catherine Turocy.
PHOEBE LEGERE is a songwriter and resident of Maine, and of Acadian and Abenaki (First Nations) descent. She sings, and plays piano, accordion, cello, Native American flute, organ, buffalo drum, synthesizer, guitar and cavaquinjo. She has created the Shamancycle, a giant, 15-person, ride-able Eagle sculpture-vehicle, running on alternative energy. Legere will be performing on the solar stage of the Shamancycle at the San Francisco Makers Fair this May 16th and 17th. At age 16, Phoebe made her Carnegie Hall debut and was signed to Epic Records. Her original song “Marilyn Monroe” was a hit on college radio in 1990, and her accordion song “Amazing Love” was in the Top 40 on Adult Contemporary in 1997. She starred in cult films including Mondo New York and Toxic Avenger 2 and 3. She opened for David Bowie, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2000. Phoebe has released 15 CDs of original music, and has appeared on National Public Radio, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS City Arts, and Charlie Rose. She has sung at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and at the Congres Mondial Acadien. Recently Phoebe appeared on HBO, singing her original song about the environment, “Hip Hop Frog” (now available on iTunes).
Based in New Brunswick, Canada RAY LEGERE is the 2003 and 1996 ECMA (East Coast Music Award) Winner for "Bluegrass Artist Of The Year.” One of Canada’s premiere fiddle/mandolin players, the Amherst, Nova Scotia native is a five-time winner of the Eastern Division Bluegrass Awards for both Mandolin and Fiddle, plus the Canadian Bluegrass Awards, Woodstock, Ontario’s Open Mandolin Championship, and the Old Time Fiddle Championship in Sackville, New Brunswick. He has shared the stage or played on recordings by many favorites including David Grisman, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, The Band, Tony Trischka, Doc Watson, Bela Fleck. Ray has recorded on hundreds of sessions, TV SHOWS, and has five solo albums to his credit.
