An Eye for Art: Manchester artist sees life as a circus

Annie Lesch is an artist living in Manchester. She was born in Berkeley, California, but grew up in the southern part of the state, a mile from the Rose Bowl. Her father was a rocket scientist, and her mother was a journalist.

“I do not remember a time when I was not an artist,” Lesch said. “I was also dyslexic. I excelled in art from the beginning. Dyslexia sent me in the art direction because I could not read at first.” She made dolls out of fabric and clay. She also created clay figures, mostly animals.

When she was in high school, Lesch won many art awards. She even painted Michelangelo’s “God and Man” on the wall.

After graduating from La Cañada High School, she attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. The teaching philosophy there is based on the German Bauhaus school of design, which says “form follows function,” according to Lesch. The idea is that an artist must be able to execute an idea and not just dream it. At the art center, she learned how to design everything from perfume bottles to typefaces.

When she graduated, Lesch was offered two jobs. One was in San Francisco and the other was with the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in New York. She took the San Francisco job to work on the Levi’s 501 Jeans ad campaign, but after six months she realized that all her friends were in New York, and she wanted to be there.

Lesch moved to New York, where she worked on advertising campaigns for Tide, Burger King and Goodyear tires. “I liked advertising because of the interesting people,” Lesch said.

Lesch later worked in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and became the creative director at several ad agencies. She worked in advertising for 28 years.

Twenty-five years ago, Lesch and her husband bought a farm in Carroll County.

While she was working in advertising, Lesch attended the Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore at night. While taking classes there, she learned the traditional painting techniques and how to make black oil paint the same way the 16th century masters did.

Five years ago, Lesch was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then, during COVID, her sister died of a brain tumor and her mother passed away from a broken heart, Lesch said, adding, “It was a lot of pain.” To cope with the pain she started painting dogs, 180 of them. She had not painted for 10 years. “Dogs are the most loving animals on earth. I wanted to look at something kind, loyal and lovely. That is how I dealt with my own grief,” Lesch said “It saved me when I was sick and sad. Just painting the dogs was therapeutic.”

“At one point, my father made an offhand comment that I was not Rembrandt. I proceeded to paint all my friends as if Rembrandt painted them,” Lesch said.

Lesch also began to paint and make circus figures. She creates the figures out of epoxy sculpt (a cross between epoxy and clay) with wire armatures and carved wooden heads. Then she paints them. The circus idea came about because of the current political situation and all the fighting over beliefs. “I liked to make fun of them. I make circus figures to relieve the insanity of it all,” Lesch said. “They will have an old Coney Island look,”

“Art is different things to different people,” Lesch said. “Johns Hopkins is doing a brain study on artists’ brain waves,” Lesch said. “The study is focusing on how the brain works when you are in the zone of creativity.”

Lesch is planning to have a circus show in the future. “I would also like to start a Makers Society in Carroll County. All of us makers have 100 things we do not need, and we can share the love,” Lesch said.

Lesch exhibits her paintings at The Smith Gallery in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. She also does commissions. Her paintings are executed in the 16th century style.

If you wish to contact Ann Lesch, please contact Debby Smith at Smith Gallery in New Cumberland at debbie@smithcustomframing.com.

Lyndi McNulty is the owner of Gizmo’s Art in Westminster. Her column, An Eye for Art, appears regularly in Life & Times.