Annie Frances Lee, a local Allen artist, is not a woman of color, but a woman of many colors. Her life has always been filled with glorious colors. Born in Gadsden, Alabama in 1935 and raised in Chicago, Miss Lee grew up in a family where cooking, sewing, drawing, and education were equally important endeavors. She attended Mundelein College, the American Academy of Art and later received a master’s degree in Education from Loyola University.

   Growing up in Chicago in the 30’s and 40’s, Annie Lee was surrounded by the colorful beauty of everyday urban life. When asked if life was difficult back then, Miss Lee replied,” Sure, we were poor, but everyone was poor. We just didn’t know it.” She explained that it wasn’t an easy life, but it was a good life. I had to laugh, because my own mother, a Mexican -American, just a few years older than Annie, had said those identical words to me.

   Around the age of ten, Annie Lee discovered that she had an artistic talent and was drawing and painting constantly. She won many school art contests and awarded lessons at the Art Institute of Chicago. She knew even back then that art would be part of her future. She continued with her education and her painting, and was offered a four- year scholarship to study art at Northwestern University. But, Annie had fallen in love and chose marriage and a family, and put her artistic dreams on the back burner for a little while.

   Tragedy was not a stranger to Annie. She lost two husbands to cancer and was raising two children on her own, but nothing was going to hold back this woman of great determination. She worked at the Northwestern Railroad from 1976-86, as a chief clerk, and attended Loyola University in the evenings earning her masters, and painting  every free moment she had. Painting was her escape, her pleasure and her passion.

   In 1986, Annie Lee’s life changed forever. Her son died in an automobile accident and she was heartbroken. She left the financial security of her railroad job and decided that she was going to make painting her career. She knew it was going to be difficult, but she put her trust in the Lord and started to paint. “Do what you love and make it your living.” So she started painting.

   Lee’s work soon became very popular with scenes of everyday life in the African-American community. She painted people without facial features so they would portray ever man. People could easily relate to the common scenes and see themselves in the paintings. She soon had a popular following and opened her own shop in 1990 and now has a large gallery in Las Vegas as well as her gallery in the Chicago area. Annie Lee also has licensed figurines, calendars, dolls and various giftware items with her whimsical scenes.

     I asked Annie what advice she could give to other seniors. “Aging is great,” Annie Lee proclaimed as we sat and chatted over coffee and cake in her kitchen. “Things that used to be important aren’t all that important anymore. We should all find what we love to do and just do it. A hobby is an absolute necessity. It’s therapy.” Annie paints every day on a little card table in her bedroom. She is surrounded by beautiful and vibrant artwork that she has collected from around the world. Annie never lacks inspiration because every day life is her canvas.

   Lee is currently working on her concept of “recession paintings.”  She fears that during this difficult economy that people will stop doing the things they love and purchasing things that make them happy, so she decided to go back to her roots and paint small 8X10 paintings that people could afford during this recession. “Everyone needs art in their life,” and Annie wants to share her art, enthusiasm and love of life with us all.

   The Laura Moore Fine Art Studios in downtown McKinney is honored to feature Annie Lee and her fascinating work at an opening reception on February 14^th from 7-10 pm. Her work will be on exhibit through March 11^th Tuesday through Saturdays from 1-5 pm at the studios located at 129 S. Tennessee, Suite 101. More information available at www.lauramooreart.com or by calling                214-914-3630