Sara Lee graduated Texas State University (formerly Southwest Texas State University) with a BFA in theatrical design. After college she moved to the east coast, working as a scenic painter for television, film and theater. In 1995 she began studies in the classical methods of drawing, painting and printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she earned a certificate in painting and printmaking. In 2003 she received a fellowship to the Vermont Studio where she developed a body of work around the life of her father. The processes and work created during her month long residency with Vermont Studio have been pivotal to the growth of her work over the last 20 years. After Vermont, she moved to New York and earned her Masters in Painting from Pratt Institute. She moved back to Texas in 2008, sustaining herself through scenic painting and teaching. Currently she has a full time studio practice and teaches art at Lockhart Montessori School.
Sara Lee draws inspiration from the representational painters Antonio Lopez Garcia, Bo Bartlett, Edward Hopper, the varied works of William Kentridge and the figurative paintings of Jenny Saville. The skills she accumulated in theater and film continue to inform her process and composition. Motherhood in 2012, provided a new lens in which she views the world and her work.
Sara Lee lives and works in Central Texas with her husband Michael and their daughter Marlowe.
b. 1968, Dallas, Texas