Discover Delmarva Arts: Gwen Lehman

OCEAN CITY, Md. — Whether it’s photography, theater, acrylic painting or collaging, artist and longtime educator at Stephen Decatur High School Gwen Lehman can do it all, and she does it with intention. Using acrylic paint and occasionally other mediums, Lehman paints abstracts inspired by landscapes.

Her most recent exhibit at the Ocean City Art League was inspired by her love for the shore and marshlands. She says she wants viewers to feel like they can escape into her paintings.

“Some of them are a little darker, and maybe your escape there would be at a time where you weren’t feeling your best, but then some of them are pretty positive, and they’re calming spaces, and they would be nice places for people to go,” Lehman said. “A lot of times it is a sense of solitude, reflection, a sense of beginning, and then the opposite of that sometimes, too. It can also give the impression of an ending.”

Lehman says her intrigue for texture, color and the natural world has shaped who she is as an artist.

“I generally have an idea, but it seldom turns out like the idea that was in my head. I start with a canvas and a color palette. I’m very interested in producing layers of paint on a canvas and then I use a brayer and go over the layers of paint so that you start to see the layers of paint underneath, and you get an interesting texture.”

Even after painting for decades, Lehman still loves to experiment with new techniques and mediums that help her evolve as an artist.

“This cold wax painting, that’s a result actually of a workshop I did here at the Art League. So this one was just really fun to try and work on as something sort of new and experimental for me.”

Lehman says growing up in mountainous western Maryland has helped her appreciate the Eastern Shore’s flat marshlands. “I just love the ocean and the beach and being around all of this. There’s something about it; it gives you a different perspective than you have when you come from an area that is hilly.”