STATEMENT
About ten years ago I started having thoughts of living abroad. My desire to have a big foreign adventure was resurfacing big time. I made a goal that I would turn sixty overseas, preferably in a French speaking country. I targeted the Peace Corps. I figured the US government could help me realize my “birthday” plans in several years. In early 2019, I visited a local Peace Corps office. I had many questions, but number one on my list was, “Am I too old to be a Peace Corps Volunteer at my age (55)?”. The answer was, “No, you’d be a great candidate!”. Alas, I only had two weeks to nurse this dream as Covid struck. The big shut down shut down my dreams, but then I pivoted. Why not just move to France? I still wanted to live in a French speaking country. I had connections and history with the south of France since 1982. We go way back, France and I. So the question I have nursed most of my life was, “how does one live abroad?”. I had 2+ years of Covid to do the research.
The visa process was daunting, but somehow the spirit guides got me over the finish line. As I write this, next week will make my three year anniversary living in Provence. I don’t know why it took me so long, but selling all my possessions and all my art to fund a new life here was worth it.
This statement is not about my process or my work. It’s about the gratitude I have for choosing the highroad, the rocky road, the road with no map. The artist path … risky, adventurous, scary, fulfilling.
Maria Lee August 2025 Lacoste, France
725 Chemin des Contards, 84480 Lacoste, FRANCE
EDUCATION
MFA printmaking, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2002 Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1991 Lacoste School of the Arts in France, Lacoste Fall, 1982 BFA University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 1984
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Saratoga, WY, 2011 Tucson Pima Arts Council Mini Grant, Tucson, AZ 2007 & 2004 Stonehouse Residenct for Contemporary Arts, Miramonte, CA, 2006 Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, CA, 2005 Jentel Foundation, Banner, WY, 2003 MFA Fellow Scholarship, University of Arizona, Tucson, 2001 Medici Scholar Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2000 J. Henry Scheidt Memorial Traveling Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1991
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Vingt-huit, with Esther Sobin and Pilar Loizaga, Maison de la Truffe, Ménerbes, France, 2025 Art Lacoste Annual Exhibition, Lacoste, France, 2023, 2025 Le Goûter, Chez Mechtild, Goult, France, 2024 k. Merveille Haiku / m. Lee Tableaux, La Cure, Lacoste, France 2023. Art Lacoste, Annual Exhibition, Lacoste, France, 2023 [ih - maj - in], The Poetry Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 2022 Narratives of the Possible: Artists’ Books, invitational, Laramie County Library, Cheyenne, WY, 2021 Fast Forward, Light Art Space Gallery, Silver City, NM, 2020 Arizona Printmaker’s Invitational, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ, 2020 It’s Time to be Fearless, Tiny Town Gallery, Tucson, AZ, 2018 Print, Printed, Printing, Highlands University New Mexico, Las Vegas, NM, 2019 Woke, Carr-Rhoads Church House, Tucson, AZ, 2018 Amplify & Multiply, printed activist ephemera, I.D.E.A. at Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, 2017 Allies, with Jo Andersen, Dragonfly Gallery, Tucson, AZ, 2016 About Books, Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ, 2015
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Conservation Technician, Western Archaeological and Conservation Center, National Parks Service, Tucson, AZ, 2000-2022 Adjunct Art Professor, Pima Community College, drawing, printmaking, bookarts, Tucson, AZ, 2002-2019. Adjunct Art Professor, printmaking, Yavapai College, Prescott, AZ, 2014-2015 Letterpress Lab Tech, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2010-2019 Printmaking Professor, Lacoste School of the Arts in France, Bard College, Lacoste, France, 1997. Apprentice Coordinator, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA, 1993-1996