Lene Alston Casey

As a North Carolina native, Lene Alston Casey has had an impressive career as a realist painter. Lene began her creative pursuits as a student of interior Design at New York University and then Parsons School of Design. With a certain flair for color and setting, she practiced as an active designer for twenty five years. After painting only as a hobby, she began attending fine art workshops in 1980 at Appalachian State University. There she met Egidio Antonaccio, a Modern American Master of Realism, and painted at his side for five years. With a developing technique and an interest in landscape painting, Lene was at the perfect crossroad point in her artistic career to meet Edward Szmyd. She began to paint seriously under the guidance of Ed, who is considered by many to be the premier Modern American Realism Master. From Ed's studio space in Blowing Rock, Lene's talent came to life and she emerged on the art gallery scene producing oil works on canvas and linen. Today Lene maintains working studios in both the North Carolina Mountains and the Low Country of South Carolina.