Spanish Jewels, 2 Collage

Leah teaches painting to adults and children at Artworks Studio, Randolph, NJ, and is a Professor at the County College of Morris, Randolph, NJ, and Centenary University, Hackettstown, NJ. Leah has taught workshops at the Children’s Museum, SoHo, NY and has been a grant recipient from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, New York, NY. Tomaino is a member of The National Association of Women Artists. Her work has won national awards, has been widely exhibited throughout the country and is held in many private and public collections. Leah’s gallery affiliations are New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery, New Hope, PA. and N.A.W.A. Gallery, New York, NY. Tomaino’s artwork is grounding to her soul. She is taken aback by the beauty and intangible qualities of natural flora: the various textures; the amazing flowers and fruits and foliage; and most of all, the spectacular rejuvenation after what appears to be a most definite death in the bleakness of a cold, dark winter. In our largely urban society, the ability to appreciate our natural surroundings has become dulled-the ability to see the wonder in a tree, the magic and the mystery in a flower, the indescribable peace and contentment that can fill one’s heart. She tries to show this to the viewer as her work is a surreal reminder of the peaceful, centered energy of the miraculous, natural living world which surrounds us. Leah K. Tomaino’s collages are made from torn, recycled brown shopping bags. She is interested in the concept that the bags started out as trees and then were made into paper which was torn and collaged into an image of the natural world, which in itself provided the required inspiration and energy.