Leah Evans is a visual artist from Drayton Valley, Alberta, on Treaty 6 territory. Through figurative painting, she critiques suburban socio-political narratives, reflecting on girlhood domestication, fragile memory, and apocalyptic imagery in prairie-gothic settings. Much of her work draws on family film strips, using these archival images as a foundation to address the rituals, symbolic aesthetics, and haunting undercurrents of these environments. The political dimensions of the Gothic have become an increasing concern in her work, inspired by the disturbing rise of ultranationalist ideologies. Leah’s undergraduate studies culminated in her Honour’s Thesis Exploring Girlhood, where she challenged the submissive expectations and fetishization of feminine youth.
Leah completed her BFA with Great Distinction from the University of Lethbridge and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Waterloo. Leah was the 2024 recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Scholarship for Visual Arts, and has received the Gushul Studio Residency Prize and the Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Award for Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge. She has exhibited across Alberta, including a solo exhibition at Casa Gallery in Lethbridge.
Artist Statement:
(Currently in the midst of major editing—come back soon!)
Curriculum Vitae
Leah Evans
b. 2001, Innisfail, Alberta
Education
2025 - 2027 (currently) MFA candidate, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada
2020 - 2024 BFA Art Studio with Great Distinction and Honours Thesis, University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Solo Exhibitions
2024 Chance Encounters: NYC Street Photography (student exhibition) - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Exploring Girlhood (undergraduate thesis exhibition) - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada (March 28)
2023 Gushul Residency Showcase (student exhibition) - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Blossoms in the Suburbs - Platform Gallery at Casa, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (April 15 - June 3)
2022 Absence, Vacancy (student exhibition) - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Two-Person Exhibitions
2022 Reconstruction - Niche Gallery, University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Group Exhibitions
2025 Recomposition - Artery, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, (September 25 - October 5)
Be There & Be Square - Trap\Door at Casa, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (June 14 - August 23)
2024 Trajectories - Casa, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (April 6 - June 4)
Fluidity - Penny Building Gallery, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (March 12 - 15)
2023 Identifying Self - Yates Theatre, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (November 17 - February 10)
Fever. Dream. Blast - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada (April 6)
Life After - Penny Building Gallery, Lethbridge, AB, Canada (March 3 -10)
2022 Round About - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
2021 Art from the Unknown - Online exhibition, based in Edmonton, AB, Canada
2019 Show Off! - Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary, AB, Canada
Residencies
2023 Gushul Artist Residency - Awarded through the University of Lethbridge Gushul Studio Artist Residency Prize. Blairmore, AB, Canada (May 1 - 31)
Grants and Awards
2024 Alberta Foundation for the Arts - Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Scholarship for Visual Arts
University of Lethbridge - Art Student Purchase Award
2023 University of Lethbridge - Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Award in Fine Arts
University of Lethbridge - Excellence in Art Studio Award
University of Lethbridge - Abbondanza Fine Arts Undergraduate Scholarship
2022 Casa and the University of Lethbridge - Platform: Casa Student Showcase
University of Lethbridge - Gushul Studio Artist Residency Prize
2021 University of Lethbridge - Gordon Mantle Memorial Scholarship in Art
University of Lethbridge - The George and Olive Spinks Scholarship in the Fine Arts
2020 University of Lethbridge - Abbondanza Fine Arts Entrance Award
Permanent Collections
2024 Mirrored Image of My Mother (painting) - purchased by the University of Lethbridge for Abbondanza fundraiser. Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Her House (painting) - purchased by the University of Lethbridge through Art Student Purchase Award. Lethbridge, AB, Canada
2023 Untitled Drawings #7 and #11, purchased by Casa as part of the Curator’s Office Collection. Lethbridge, AB, Canada
Independent Research
2024 Undergraduate honours thesis Exploring Girlhood - University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada
2023 Creation and self-publishing of photography book The Girls We Are.
Photography project Chance Encounters in New York City - awarded by the Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Award in Fine Arts (June 24 - July 6)
Interviews and Publications
2025 Circe Magazine, Issue 4, 2025. featured acrylic painting Window
Something in the Water Zine, Volume II - featured acrylic painting Oceanside Funeral Home
2024 Petal Projections Magazine, Issue 10 - featured acrylic paintings Lolita, Prey
2023 University of Lethbridge - “Fine Arts Shining Student Leah Evans,” (July 2023)
The Meliorist Magazine, University of Lethbridge - “Artists at the University of Lethbridge,” (April 2023)