Artistic expression

Lea Michelle has been expressing herself artistically for most of her life. When she was in kindergarten, the assignment was to draw a picture of what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Lea Michelle drew a girl painting at an easel. Fast forward a few decades and today that little girl is all grown up and has combined her love of art, animals, nature, faith and family into her new gallery space dedicated to artistic expression in all forms, The Garden Gallery in Lakewood. 

“This studio is a culmination of all that I’ve experienced and achieved in my life up to this point,” Lea Michelle says. “My hope is to build a community of people of all ages to gather and express themselves through art, conversation and camaraderie.”

Lea Michelle’s artistic journey began with dance in her youth. After college at the University of Iowa, she took her communications and journalism degree to Chicago, where she worked in sales and marketing. It was here she discovered a new passion for entrepreneurship. 

“I was working with businesses and developing their marketing programs when I discovered I was really good at this, so why not start my own business doing something I’m passionate about—art in all its forms.”

Fast forward to a fortuitous trip to Denver where Lea Michelle met her husband, David, moved to Denver, got married and had two children.

“In Denver I began to flex my entrepreneurial muscle and started a Disney princess-themed children’s entertainment company that still exists today,” Lea Michelle says. “I sang, danced, did art with the kids and created the whole program myself.”

Lea Michelle eventually sold the business when her family moved to Cleveland, but she wasn’t finished creating. 

“I went through a dark period in my life when I started drinking too much to cope,” Lea Michelle says. “I’ve now been sober for 4 years and 9 months, and through this journey, I discovered a faith I hadn’t known before. This was when I began expressing myself through writing. I wrote a devotional that was published and is available on Amazon, Finding Christ Through Social Media.”

Lea Michelle continued her writing and authored a children’s book, Fearless Noah, and a novel, Squall, about overcoming the storms of life.

“I had to clean up my act and that’s what the book is about,” Lea Michelle says. “Being a drunk evangelist wasn’t working for me. I called it Squall because the first storm is always the hardest to get through. It’s a book about healing and finding your strength. I did that through Christ.”

After attending a retreat of Christian authors in 2024, Lea Michelle felt called to paint again, a hobby she had loved as a child. Remember that little girl at the easel?

“I felt God was telling me to reach people about his message through art, not necessarily the spoken or written word,” Lea Michelle says. “Sometimes people respond to a softer approach like a beautiful painting. A book can be intimidating. They can look at art and see God. That was my goal with my paintings and that’s my goal with The Garden Gallery.”

A visit to The Garden Gallery is an immersion into a fantastical world of art, nature and physical and emotional well-being, all guided by a woman who has weathered the highs and lows of life with the help of her faith, her family and her art. Make The Garden Gallery and Lea Michelle a part of your artistic journey. Something tells me she’s just getting started. 

The Garden Gallery is located in Studio #235 in the historic Screw Factory building at 13000 Athens Avenue in Lakewood. For more information call 440-773-3972 or visit the websites TheGardenGallery.biz or ScrewFactoryArtists.org for hours and building details. Email Lea Michelle at ArtistLeaMichelle@gmail.com.