About the Artist

Born in 1957, Lenna Andrews is a mixed-media artist and instructor who lives in Connecticut with her husband Steven Deming, their 2 dogs Asia and Chloe and their 2 cats, Star and Farfel.  Lenna loves to create and marrying Steven Deming on June 11, 2005 (at 49 and 48 years old) has has only helped Lenna to create more art! Unbelievably, Steven & Lenna first met in 1972 through their very good friend Garth Gibson, shown at their wedding with Lenna's sister Kathy,  below. 

Steve & Lenna were just 15 and 16 years old at their first meeting at Garth's house in 1972 and went on to be friends for many years.  In 1980 when they were in their early 20's - Steven, Garth, Lenna and her husband John Foster, all shared a house together.

Fast forward about twenty-five years later to 2004.  Steven and Lenna had not been in touch for about 5 years when Lenna decided to call Steven. She had recently learned from Garth that Steven was divorced and thought Steven might be able to offer her support for her impending divorce.  Steven and Lenna falling in love was furthest from her mind when Lenna called Steven on October 25th, 2004.  It certainly seems like destiny now because Steven and Lenna's paths crossed again at just the time when they both really needed each other. They found they were still good friends, more of a match than they would have ever suspected, and they fell in love in a very short amount of time. Today, they continue to thank their lucky stars (their wedding theme). A little more of the story is here.

In this new chapter of her life with Steven, who is very supportive of her art, you'll find Lenna continuing to teach mixed-media art classes, participating in, or organizing various art exchanges and swaps, writing articles for publication, creating art for sale (or for her family & friends), working on her websites and on-line classes and striving to appreciate the huge variety of things life presents us with. A favorite quote of Lenna's is: 

"True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it goes by."  ~ unknown  

The photo above was taken in Steven & Lenna's Avon, CT home in 2007 - featuring their pets:  Asia, Chloe, Farfel & Star! Click on the photo for more detail.

Lenna growing up:

As a child, Lenna was encouraged by her family to take lots of art and dance classes. These activities were such a large part of her life that they truly shaped her growth as an artist. Lenna found these creative outlets to be a needed form of self-expression and she happily engaged in them. Lenna says that the modern dance classes she took and the performances she was in, plus all the art classes she took definitely helped her to learn how to think creatively. A huge thanks goes out to her Mom & Dad, shown here at Lenna & Steven's wedding in 2005, for all their love and support of her creative abilities.

more about the artist:

Although never formally trained at the University level, art and dance were always part of Lenna's week. She studied modern dance for more than thirty years and performed with two local dance troupes during that time:  Truda Kaschman Dance Ensemble and Footnotes Dance Theater. This environment nurtured and shaped someone who saw herself as a creative person and also someone who learned creative thinking skills. Lenna has continued to make art by drawing and painting, sewing, embroidering, weaving, working with paper and books, and creating with beads and fabric on a regular basis. She definitely sees this trend continuing!

Lenna was introduced to art rubberstamps in 1990 for the first time and found a renewed connection to the visual arts. After spending the 1980's with her first husband John Foster -- making a home, starting their family, raising their two sons Decklin and Dallas and owning and operating a Jazzercise dance-fitness franchise for 7 years, Lenna was looking to return to more creative art pursuits. By 1990, she was ready to re-connect to her artistic side, and art rubber stamps were just the thing!

Just four years later in 1994, Lenna began teaching fabric stamping classes at Impressive Impressions - an art rubber stamp store in Farmington, Connecticut that has since closed. Lenna had taught herself how to rubber stamp on fabric after reading an article called The Stamper's New Dress, by Ricë Freemen-Zachary in the July/Aug 1993 issue of RubberStampMadness. After reading the article, Lenna rubber stamped a length of white cotton material and then cut and sewed it into a simple dress.  This combined her knowledge of sewing, fabric, and her new interest in rubber stamping. She received rave reviews for the artwork on the dress and was immediately asked if she could teach her techniques locally. Lenna became known during the in the 1990's for fabric stamping, and was featured in an article titled, It's a Fabric Thing! in the March/April 1997 issue of RubberStampMadness. Her first published piece of art was a detailed stamped silk blouse that graced the back cover of the August/September 1995 issue of The Stamper's Sampler.

Since that time Lenna has gained a lot of experience teaching and added a large variety of classes to her repertoire. She is considered by her students to be talented, kind, generous, encouraging, sharing of her materials and of her time, very organized . . . and most of all, someone who creates a fun and enjoyable class atmosphere! More about Lenna's classes here.

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student comments:

"I have so enjoyed, and learned so much from the nature stamping technique—all has been so naturally beautiful --so effortlessly available - I can't believe I have not taken advantage of something so 'there' for me. Lenna, I am really going to miss this class when all is over. I chose your class because you offered so many techniques in one session. It is rare a teacher takes on such a task : ) I thank you.

May all be well, Sarah"  10/18/07

"I wanted to thank you for you help and encouragement in this class. I really enjoyed reading and trying some of the suggestions. I have all the supplies I need to play and the instructions. I will continue creating fiber projects thanks to you . . .  %^) Take care, Kathleen"  2/13/07

". . . Back to the course - I'm so unbelievably sad that it is coming to an
end - and the fabric course only has 2 more lessons. I feel that you
have really opened my eyes creatively and have started a process that
won't end when the course does :-) . . . "  Claire from the UK 3/22/07

"Class was so much fun yesterday. I loved the three altered book techniques, and the (painted) purse class, although scary at first, was wonderful. You are so talented and I am so grateful to be one of your students. Love, Roma"  3/28/04

"I loved, loved the class and can't wait to finish my book and make more!  Everyone loved the classes Lenna, and you did a great job as a teacher, but more importantly as an inspiring force. That's always what I need and I am sure others feel the same.  It was a great day!" ~ Denise Morrison, owner of Kooka-licious, Cheshire, CT  8/8/05

"Thank you, Lenna, for a very informative, fun class. We'd love for you to teach here again!" Becky Sunderman, Dyehard Yahoo Group Classroom  2/13/07

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published:

Since 1995, Lenna has been published many times for her art and articles in both magazines and books. You'll find Lenna's art on the front cover of the May/June 2005 issue of Expression Magazine (House of Cards - Artist Trading Cards). One of  Lenna's silk scarves made the front cover and also the inside of this 2004 book: New Techniques for Wearable Art. Additionally, one of Lenna's Fabric books landed on the back cover of this book in 2005: The Art of Fabric Books, with more examples of her work published on the inside. Wow! You can learn and see more by going to the Published Work page.

Thanks to her son Decklin, Lenna has been actively on-line since 1995. She feels so  fortunate to have had the expertise of her oldest son when creating her first website way back in 1996. Decklin created this site for his mom at the young age of 14! Fortunately, he taught his mom enough HTML so that she herself could continue editing her website, which she still does. Decklin also introduced his mom to the internet and email, oh my! Lenna connected with so many people this way and made many new friends involved with art mainly through various yahoo groups. She grew as an artist and as a person through the sharing and the connections that were formed. Lenna has been blessed to have met in person and spent time with many artist friends whom she originally knew only via on-line correspondence! Thanks to Decklin for all his help in opening up this new resource for his Mom.  

william glackens:

Lenna's family was, and still is very supportive of her artwork, which could be in part attributed to the fact that there are accomplished artists in her own family. William Glackens (1870-1938) is Lenna's Great Uncle. He was an American Impressionist painter at the turn of the century and considered one the most influential artists in the history of American Art.  Lenna is named after William Glacken's daughter Lenna Glackens. A separate page is devoted to information about and the art of Lenna's Great Uncle: William Glackens.

a quote for you:

Lenna's most loved quotes also have a separate page on this website because she has collected them for years!  Here's a favorite:

"Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion."  

- Martha Graham          

 

We hope you enjoy the creative lenna website!

Please email me if you have any comments or questions ~Lenna