Lessley Bender is a Bay Area-based artist and educator working in oil painting, printmaking, film photography, and fiber arts. Their work explores the living world, human connection to that world, and memory.  Through surrealist portrayals of flora, fauna, the cosmos, and the human figure, they bring disparate moments into the close proximity with which they are perceived or remembered. Their most recent work seeks to understand how identity is mapped onto and intertwined with the organisms and landscapes that surround us. 

2026

Visibility Drawing Community Art Show, Colorspace Arts, El Cerrito, CA

Frankenshow, Rosebud Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Unsupervised, Queer Arts Featured, San Francisco, CA

Ticket to Ride, Minibar & KnownSF, San Francisco, CA

Pride on the Coast, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA

Portrait Show, Two Cats Gallery, El Cerrito, CA

 

2025

The Fall Show, Rosebud Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Trans | Post, William Way LGBT Center, Philadelphia, PA

Before, During, or After, Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA
 

2023

Refusés of the Bay, online catalog, Voss Gallery & Metal Haus Gallery, San Francisco, CA
tiny, Two Cats Gallery, El Cerrito, CA