Aleya Lehmann has engaged in her creative practice in New York City for over forty years. She earned a BFA in Painting from Boston University, Boston, MA, 1975-1979; and an MFA in Painting from American University, Washington, D.C., 1981-1983. She moved to New York City with one suitcase and a one-way Greyhound Bus ticket in June 1983 and has not looked back. Her oeuvre is wide-ranging and brings together painting, photography, and video, as well as costume and set design.

Outside of the studio, she bolstered her involvement in the art world as part the staff at The New Museum and later, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with other stints in between.

Several stays at MacDowell early on provided restorative quiet time for developing new work and then a series of exhibitions, awards, and commissions have marked her trajectory. Dedicating her time now to working with collectors, curators, and clients on special commissions seems an apt way to bring together all the myriad facets of work—color, composition, movement, and sense of time and place.