Bio

Born in 1952, Leslie Bender grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York in 1975. Since then, she has pursued a notable artistic career in and around the New York City area. Her studio is currently located in New Paltz, New York and she is an active member of a vigorous Hudson Valley community of accomplished artists.

Her works have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, along with the Chrysler Museum in Virginia and the Glenbow Museum in Canada. She has also staged numerous one-woman art shows in the New York City and Hudson Valley areas. She is a graduate of the Scenic Painting School at Cobalt Studios and has subsequently designed numerous backdrops for the Ulster Ballet, the Woodstock Youth Theater and other theaters. Her murals appear in such places as the Culinary Institute of America and other institutions, along with private homes, restaurants, businesses, public works and churches. Her largest project to date has been a 200-foot long mural painted by the students in one of her classes at SUNY.