Biography (Vitae)
LeAnne Grace Iverson was born in Santa Barbara, California and raised playing beach volleyball and waterskiing at the lake. She was active in school with her Captain of the Drill Team responsibilities and Rally Commissioner Events. After graduating from San Marcos High School she spent two years at Santa Barbara City College and then left to finish up her Arts Administration Degree at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. Before heading off to college she ventured to Switzerland where she met up with some European friends and traveled through out Spain and then back up through France and England. A sense of adventure was then set in stone.
She has always been passionate about the arts and entertainment where dancing and choreography were her first love. After college she taught dance, had her own performing dance company and owned a dance club called RU Re-d. Needing a bigger city with more adventure she packed a few bags and headed to NYC. With in a year she found her first husband and they opened a jewelry company by the name of EFFEX where she designed costume Lucite jewelry for the next fourteen years. They had two children together Avalon and Anaya and lived in a big loft on 37th St until 1999. Quite a romantic start.
Her second love is to travel and she has been able to take many trips throughout, Europe, Mexico, Indonesia, Jordan and the Caribbean. Here she finds interest in handmade customs and traditional folklore. Collecting artifacts and learning native ways, she gains an appreciation for indigenous cultures and respects the depths of their beliefs. Later this becomes a regular theme throughout her Art and writing. This also instills a passion for questioning....
With her new husband Carl, LeAnne opened up a Bed and Breakfast in Brooklyn and created all the themed rooms using her creative abilities. Once that was up and running, and her two children were in school, she had some extra time to re-focus on putting her two other loves together and that was Art and Children. She went back to school and got her Art Teaching Certificate from Parson’s School of Art and Design. She currently teaches at Benjamin Banneker Academy for Community Development, in Brooklyn, NY. New beginnings and new adventures to come.
With her true love being her family, her and her husband decide to add on a new genetic extension and Axell arrives in a dramatic way. Passing the time in the hospital she began to draw indigenous costumes for goddesses of the future. Without her consent the illustrations came alive and now they are telling her their story…constantly. She promised to write down their stories, if one day they would give her peace. They agreed and now LeAnne has a Graduate Degree in Liberal Studies with a focus in writing from Excelsior College, NY. But collecting everything from above she has to do it a bit differently. As she films herself illustrating their words, a story unfolds and is written. This becomes her last mission....putting together her fantastical imagination in the form of an art journal (illustrated) young adult, novel series.