Sophia X NYC

Les Heinze is a mixed media artist, instructor with Verizon Innovative Learning and community activist. She has a B.A. in Occupational Science with additional training from Arizona State University and Kline Academy of Fine Art in Santa Monica, CA. During her adolescents she was influenced by female artists of her family, and during college was introduced to an Art History professor which became a female mentor of hers, introducing her to the work and lives of artists like Judy Chicago, Miriam Shapiro, and Georgia O'keefe. Her motivation to become an artist has had its moments of fear as Leslie has studied the life and stories of countless female artists within society and the many cultural challenges that come with it. Thus, her work has developed over years of personal experience as a female artist and from the stories of those before her passed down. Taking control of her artistic process, Leslie paints, photographs, designs and edits every part of her work, speaking a bold language with the primary theme being cultural objectification. As a teaching artist she works to encourage middle school girls to use creative thinking with augmented and virtual reality while merging those skills with social entrepreneurship, design thinking and 3D printing. Les furthers her work as an artist by assisting community projects that help empower the youth and women of all ages through creative expression by thinking in unconventional terms that challenge them to think outside the box.