LESLIE DONAHUE
Boston-based teaching artist, specializing in
painting,
drawing, and mixed-media fine arts
Figurative
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Untitled,
2020, Acrylic on Paper, 3.5x7”
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Stranger in Chinatown,
2019, Mixed Media on Masonite, 12x8”
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Figure Study With Flowers,
2018, Chalk Pastel on Paper, 6.5x9”
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Movie Star,
2020, Pencil on paper, 7x7”
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Dave, 26,
2019, Pencil on Paper, 7x5”
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Worm Illusion,
2021, Oil on Plastic Canvas
Self Portrait,
2022, Oil Pastel on Paper
2022, Oil Pastel on Paper
Untitled,
2020, Acrylic on Paper, 3.5x7”
Woman on a Train,
2020, Oil on Paper, 19x12.5”
2020, Oil on Paper, 19x12.5”
Stranger in Chinatown,
2019, Mixed Media on Masonite, 12x8”
Figure Study With Flowers,
2018, Chalk Pastel on Paper, 6.5x9”
Movie Star,
2020, Pencil on paper, 7x7”
Dave, 26,
2019, Pencil on Paper, 7x5”
Worm Illusion,
2021, Oil on Plastic Canvas
Glare,
2021, Oil on Unstretched Canvas
Untitled, 2022, Charcoal on Cardstock
February, 2020
Mixed Media on Canvas
In The Maze,
2020, Acrylic on Paper, 15x10”
New Boots,2020, Oil on Paper, 15x11”
Figure in Chair,
2019, Acrylic on Paper, 19x14”
Patient,
2019, Acrylic on Paper, 7x11”.
Missing Sisters,
2019, Mixed Media on Paper, 14x17”
In The Room,
2018, Oil on Paper, 14x16”.
Self Portrait with Match,2022, Oil on Panel
Still Life
Details from Untitled, 2023, Oil on Canvas
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Chrysanthemums on the Mantle,
2019, Pencil on Paper, 8x8”
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Still Life With Apple,
2018, Oil on Masonite, 10x12”
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The Red Shoes,
2018,Oil on Canvas Board, 10x12”.
Chrysanthemums on the Mantle,
2019, Pencil on Paper, 8x8”
Still Life With Apple,
2018, Oil on Masonite, 10x12”
The Red Shoes,
2018,Oil on Canvas Board, 10x12”.
Still Life with Figures,
2022, Oil on Canvas
2022, Oil on Canvas
Bell Self-Portrait,
2022, Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas
2022, Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas
Chair Study,
2018, Acrylic on Paper, 9x5”
2018, Acrylic on Paper, 9x5”
Environment
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Chico, 2025, Acrylic on Paper
Green House,
2020, Acrylic on Canvas, 36x24”.
2020, Acrylic on Canvas, 36x24”.
Mexican Street View,
2023, Acrylic on Cradled Wood,
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Sciarappa View,
2021, Oil and Marker on Canvas
for sale
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Gualala,
2020, Acrylic on Paper, 23x15”.
2023, Acrylic on Cradled Wood,
Sciarappa View,
2021, Oil and Marker on Canvas
for sale
Gualala,
2020, Acrylic on Paper, 23x15”.
Chico, 2025, Acrylic on Paper
NH Farmhouse Studies, 2020,
Acrylic on Canvas
Sciarappa View II,
Neighbor’s House, 
Cambridge, 2021, Oil on Canvas
Untitled, 2019, Paper and acrylic
Green Shape,
2019, Mixed Media, 18x12”
X,
2019, Mixed Media on Plastic Canvas, 38x12” sold
Grid #1,
2019, Mixed Media on Masonite, 32x24”
Untitled, 2021, Mixed Media on Canvas
Untitled, 2019-2020, Mixed Media on Paper, 11x9”
Orange Shape,
2019, Mixed Media, 16x12”
Removal,
2019-2020, Mixed Media, 7x7”
Yellow Shape, 2019, Mixed Media, 15x12”
Untitled, 2019, Acrylic and Fabric on Board, 12x9”
Frantic,
2018, Paper and Charcoal, 24x18”
Email lesliedonahue12@gmail.com
Instagram @leslie.donahue https://www.instagram.com/leslie.donahue/
ARTIST STATEMENT
I seek references from unusual places. Advertisements, screenshots from television, blurry images from online marketplaces, and other snapshots of the world around me. Mundane yet surreal images are collected like visions, carefully analyzed, replicated, and distorted to reflect a narrative of my specific time and place in the world. Throughout the personal, political, abstract, and representative, I document life with appreciation for beauty in the unexpected.
~Leslie Donahue, 2025
PROFILE
Leslie Donahue is a multimedia artist specializing in both oil and acrylic painting. Born and raised in the California Bay Area, their work moves from figurative, to landscape, to still life, to abstraction. Specializing in strange, atmospheric scenes and images imbued with emotion, there is tension between what is revealed to the viewer and what is hidden. Leslie uses their printmaking, drawing, and collage skills to further explore these themes. Leslie has participated in several gallery shows, including a 2022 “Fresh Faces” exhibition at the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery and the 2023 National Prize Show at the Cambridge Art Association, in which they received the Juror’s Choice award. In the summer of 2023, they were granted a two-month-long painting residency in Mexico City. They currently live in Boston, Massachusetts and work as a teacher while maintaining a studio practice.
EDUCATION
2021- 2023 Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
Masters of Fine Arts Program in Painting
2017-2019 Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 National Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
2023 Ashes: Art of the Unkempt, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2023 Birthed in the Bathhouse, Queer Artist Collective of Massart, Boston, MA
2023 Massart Auction 2023, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2022 All School Show, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA
2022 Fresh Faces, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, MA
2020 Small Works Show, Porter Mill Gallery, Beverly, MA
2019 Annual Crane Estate Art Show: Earth, Wind, Fire, & Water, Ipswich, MA
RESIDENCIES
2023 Winner: Mexico City Fellowship (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
2022 Finalist: FA2D Nominee, Yale Norfolk program (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2023 Winner: Juror’s Choice Award, Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show
2023 Winner: FA2D Dean Nimmer Auction Award (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
2022 Winner: Massart Foundation Painting Award (Massachusetts College of Art and Design)
2018 Excellence in Core Curriculum Grant (Montserrat College of Art)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
March 2022- Present Painting Instructor, Arlington Center for the
Arts, Arlington, MA
- Portraiture for Adults
- Portraiture for Teens
- Landscape for Adults
- Landscape for Teens
August-October 2019, 2024 Cemetery Restoration Intern, Epoch
Preservation, Ipswich, MA
