"I love to paint. I love the sensuality of the materials and the endless possibilities of the medium. I love playing with color, light, movement and form to try to capture the elusive essence of sensuality and spirit, whether it's in the human body or the flint of a fish underwater. Often a painting surprises me and takes me in a direction I never imagined. That's when the process becomes exciting and the painting becomes alive. Sometimes difficult, often surprising, always revealing, the act of painting teaches me to trust the process and to delight in its unfolding.

For me the power of art is its mysterious and profound ability to touch a visceral knowing in our bodies that speaks to an emotional truth about our shared humanity."

Leslie Gifford, artist, writer and educator, has a background in dance, theatre and film. After graduating from Skidmore College with a degree in theater and dance she worked as a dancer, choreographer/director in Boston and New York. She then moved to Paris where she lived and worked for six years. She became Artist-In-Residence at the American Center for Students and Artists, under whose auspices she was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Grant to create performance pieces synthesizing art, theatre and dance. She also received a Fringe First Award from the Edinburgh Theatre Festival for innovative direction.

After spending a year traveling extensively throughout Southeast Asia she returned to the United States where she began working on the PBS documentary film series "The American Experience."  She spent four years with he series as assistant to the Executive Producer.   During this time she journeyed to  the Amazonian rainforest in Peru, and exploration which culminated in a book she wrote and illustrated, "Earth Song."

In 1993 Gifford moved to California to focus on painting. Her work seeks to capture the elusive essence of sensuality and spirit through color, light, movement and form. Her painting have been exhibited at such venues as the Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, Galerie Everarts in Paris, France and The second International Female Arts Biennial in Stockholm, Sweden. Her work is also included private and corporate collections. Since 1997 Gifford has been Artist-In-Residence at San Francisco State University's Romberg Tiburon Center. In 1999 she was commissioned to illustrate and write for the web site "Shape Up and Drop 10". In January 2000 she was invited to teach yoga for the National Institute of Health's Conference on Health Initiatives for the New Millennium, spearheaded by Surgeon General David Satcher.

Gifford currently divides her time between painting and teaching workshops integrating painting, yoga and spirit at such venues as The Sonoma Mission Inn and New York City's Open Center. She travels frequently to the south of France and various spas in Europe where she conducts workshops and exhibits regularly.