The Mimbres Region Arts Council, in partnership with Western Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL) and WNMU Expressive Arts Dept., is pleased to feature Diana Ingalls Leyba in the second lecture of the 2012-2013 Artist Lecture Series on November 8, 2012, 6:30 p.m. at WNMU Parotti Hall.

The Artist Lecture Series provides an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of America's finest artists. Participants have the opportunity to learn about an artist's motivations, techniques and history while being generally entertained. Light refreshments will be served.

Diana Ingalls Leyba was born in Georgetown, Guyana, and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She received her B.F.A. Magna Cum Laude from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where she was the recipient of academic scholarships. She has shown her work in more than 50 solo and group exhibits throughout the country.

Ingalls Leyba relocated to Silver City, NM in 1996 where she works as an artist and operates an art supply store and art gallery. She has directed the MRAC Youth Mural program since 2003, overseeing the completion of 37 murals.

"My paintings come ‘off the wall' through a buildup of layers and construction on the paint surface and I've begun to think of them as tapestries of paint," says Ingalls Leyba. "Images and symbols come from the everyday, from different cultures, and from within." She is a literal person and picks imagery that evokes the universal in the personal or the sacred in the commonplace. "A tapestry of interwoven brush strokes, layers of paper, paint, and thread have meaning or reason marking time in ritual form. The act of painting becomes ritual as the layers build to create the end result."

For tickets contact the MRAC offices at 1201 Pope Street in Silver City, call 575-538-2505, or visit us online at www.mimbresarts.org.

The Mimbres Region Arts Council provides quality visual, performing, and youth arts programs that serve and strengthen our community.