Eileen Oda Leaf

The Arts and Accessibility grant program created an opportunity to expand a new technique of oil painting I have developed coined, “exsculpainting”. The grant funding provided the supplies necessary to showcase a very large, exsculpainting: 3-D oil painting on canvas/es, sometimes underneath, that was accepted in the CA 101 2019 World Art Exhibition, in Redondo Beach, California.

Up until the time when the Arts and Accessibility grant was awarded, my exsculpaintings had been shown on a much smaller scale, had not received much exposure, nor were put through much scrutiny by curators, or the press. It was pivotal that exsculpainting would go through the formal process of being curated that is necessary in order to be accepted into a noted art exhibition and on a larger scale widely shown in galleries.

Not only was The Grand Oak, a massive exsculpainting measuring 72”x92”x3” comprising nine individual 24”x 30” canvases, accepted into the curated CA 101 2019 World Art Exhibition, where less than10% of entries were accepted, and, food exsculpaintings were also offered at the CA 101 Gift Store.

The Grand Oak was selected and judged by an esteemed member of the Friends of Redondo Beach Arts that sponsored this celebrated art show as “the best of show”. Two visitors to the show wanted to purchase The Grand Oak, however, it was so large it would not fit in their homes! As an added bonus to receiving the Arts and Accessibility grant, The Grand Oak was featured in The Easy Reader, a local South Bay Los Angeles newspaper in the November 14, 2019 issue.

Exsculpaintings have been shown during and after the CA 101 2019 World Art Exhibition because of the Arts and Accessibility grant. People have taken note of this new style of oil painting, collectors follow the work produced, and, I am looking forward to making it progress in ways unimagined before the Arts and Accessibility grant was given.