FAS Alumnus: Gary Lessord
Gary Lessord of Orlando, Florida is a former Famous Artist School student whose career has lead to creative images, awards, and recognition ever since he completed the course.
Gary credits the Famous Artists Course he took during high school with having advanced his talent and artistic awareness. He says “the lessons were always a challenge and the professional instruction played a real beneficial role in my early development as an artist.”
During high school, Gary completed a number of art commissions for fellow students, their parents and faculty members. He also won numerous Scholastic Art competitions, including the Grand Prize Portfolio Award and scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology. Lessord went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Honors Master Program of the State University of New York at Buffalo with summa cum laude distinction.
Gary believes he has been entrusted with a very important gift that increases in both its value and blessings as it is shared. He strives to capture a sense of “life” and “belonging” through the depiction of light, shadow and mood of the passing moment. He believes these are vital ingredients for successful artworks.
Over the years, the thrill of exploration has motivated Gary to experiment with and create numerous works in varied subject matter, style, media, and technique. His art has spanned the areas of portrait, figure, landscape, and wildlife. All of these subjects continue to provide him with an ongoing challenge.
His talent has enriched the creative needs of major clients including Disney, Universal Studios, and many others. Lessord has extensive experience in the publishing realm, having produced illustrations for magazines, books, brochures, and the motion picture industry. Gary notes that his interest in this type of illustration was fueled early on when he admired the work of such Famous Artists as Bob Peak and Norman Rockwell.
The artist’s diversity does not end there as he has also painted a number of wall murals and even designed two sets for television talk shows in Orlando. Ongoing projects include the licensing of a number of his creative images as prints, puzzles, gift bags, and many other products. He continues to add to a substantial listing of exhibitions. One of Gary’s acrylic paintings, “Creative Splendor,” has been exhibited by invitation in the United States Senate Rotunda in Washington D.C. and also at the Museum of American Illustration in New York City for a special 9-11 fund-raiser entitled “Prevailing Human Spirit.”
Perhaps the artist’s career can best be summerized in his own words: “My continuous goal is to portray with love, respect, and intensity personal segments of the magnificent created beauty I see before me and share that vision and appreciation with others.”
Further artworks and biographical information about Gary Lessord may be viewed online at www.garylessord.com.