An internationally acclaimed artist, Lee Steadman captures his love of the outdoors in watercolor. Steadman’s paintings are found in private and permanent museum collections including the New York State Museum, the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Leigh Yawkey-Woodson Art Museum, and the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History. 

 

Steadman has had invitational art shows as well as solo and group art exhibits around the United States in public, private and university galleries. Steadman has had exhibitions at the Frick Museum of Fine Art, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, New York State museum and the Erie Art Museum. He has shown in many private galleries around the United States.

His illustrations have contributed to the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. His trip to the Galápagos as a field illustrator formed the basis for 51 watercolors for Galápagos: Discovery on Darwin's Island, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press. In 1993, Steadman illustrated I Do and I Don't, written by children's television personality Fred Rogers. His watercolors have appeared in multiple books and texts.

 

Steadman served on the board of trustees of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts from 2012 -2018.  He was appointed to the Governor’s Outdoor Task Force Panel in 2007 to help Pennsylvanians reconnect to the outdoors. Steadman has designed and participated in many long-term art residency projects at schools and institutions throughout Pennsylvania. 

 

Beyond his watercolor paintings, in his position as the director of BLOOM Collaborative at Stairways Behavioral Health in Erie, PA, Steadman incorporated 24 years as an artist, an arts educator and an environmentalist into creating a healing arts center titled BLOOM Collaborative. A holistic approach to wellness recognizing the healing power of creativity, mindfulness, and environment. Through art classes, gardening, yoga and community collaborations, BLOOM offered a creative wellness campus focused on the community’s well-being.

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Most recently in 2020 receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Erie Arts and Culture.

 

He resides on his family farm in McKean, Pennsylvania with his wife, Lori, grateful to be surrounded by the space and changing seasons of his farm where he padded barefoot as a child.