Lee Walker was born and raised in Billings, Montana.  A self taught artist, Lee has worked to develop her skills and hone her talents in acrylic painting.  A proud Montanan, Lee tries to use her magnificent surroundings and her connection to Montana's bountiful western culture in a great number of her pieces.

From a young age Lee was constantly creating and meddling in the arts.  At sixteen she entered into the the Calgary Stampedes Western Showcase and her piece placed 1st in the Junior Division, this solidified her desire to focus on her artistic drive.  

Her twenties were spent developing her style of contemporary western painting and showing in and around her hometown. A love of comic book artwork and stained glass is demonstrated in the hard black outlines Lee uses in her paintings.  Lee was one of the artists chosen for the Downtown Billings Associations Signal Box Project in 2016 and is excited to display her work publicly in Billings active downtown.  Now living and working as a full time artist in Red Lodge Montana, Lee is enveloped in the mountain life and community. She is a 2018 Featured artist for the Carbon County Arts Guild and Depot Gallery's 'Art in the Beartooths annual fundraiser, represented by Kira Fercho Gallery in Big Sky, MT and doing shows around the state,

Being available for commissions has afforded Lee many exciting and unique opportunities and although she specializes in western and wildlife she is also known for her fondness of painting subject matter just because she never has.  Always observing, she catalogs every sight and interaction for later inspiration.  Lee lives a vibrant life being an active horsewoman and outdoor adventurer, as well as a great love for new age tattoos. neo-western culture and is a retro and vintage enthusiast.

Her Story

"I have gained an understanding and sense of expression that benefits my painting and to share my outlook is pure joy. Life's details captivate me; whether a calloused palm felt during the brief pressure of a handshake or the minuscule divot of that one stray bristle as my brush glides across the canvas. Those details are intense. Brief. And unlike the colors that stream through my brain and envelope the world around me, rarely in my mind for long. 

I've always felt big, not large in scale but emotionally charged, like my chest could crack open if I didn't have a way to release what was brewing inside. Brushes, consumed with acrylic paints started freeing the ideas and the images became more manageable. Montana's vast wilderness, the animals which reside here and viewing a lot of my life from the backs of my horses has influenced my artwork greatly.  Stained glass, comic book art and tattoos have influenced my artwork with their respective defined outlines, mine broken and choppy.   

There is a vibrant movement that is eager to consume. It is incredibly vivid and bright, almost painfully so. Being able to sit, staring into blank canvas until a world unto it's self appears creates a catatonic lapse in time. The bond between my brain and hands has become solid as a steady dialogue is exchanged evolving the impulses into my ideal. The gift of an artist is accepting reality only in refusing to let it dictate personal vision, experience and expression."

Photograph by Mary Kate Teske