EARLY YEARS

Venus’ love for the arts began early.

Venus is a full time artist from Ft. Worth, Texas. She was raised in a family of artists, actors, musicians and writers, so she developed a love for The Arts at an early age. Her grandfather was film and television character actor Rusty Lee Rusty Lee - IMDb   known for his work in Raising Arizona, Young Guns, Gunsmoke and many more.  He was a producer, musician, painter, writer, and Baptist preacher. Several other family members were also writers, artists and musicians.

EDUCATION

Venus was an honor student in school and won her first art competition at age 12. She also wrote poetry, was an award winning dancer and musician, and was a model and actress. Venus perused a Museum Studies degree at The University of Texas at Arlington with a double major in Art History and Anthropology and made the dean's list. She also attended their Archaeology field school program and excavated Nance Farm, historic former home of Mickey Mantle. 

THE ARTS

Inspired by her actor grandfather Rusty Lee, in 2003, Venus expanded her artistic talents by acting in DFW community theater in musicals such as “Damn Yankees”, “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “A Christmas Carol”. She progressed as an actress into commercials for “Radio Shack” and films “Confessions” , “Blind Corner”, Mad Bad”, and “Rain” with Faye Dunaway. Venus is listed on IMDB Venus - IMDb   Venus also began modeling for dozens of photographers who worked for such companies asToni & Guy, National Geographic and more.

Venus has also had lifelong involvement in music with family members and friends who are musicians. Her grandfather’s band had a weekly radio show and he performed at the Grand Ole Opry, Panther Hall and many more. Her family met and mingled with many music stars like Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams Jr., Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson and many more. Naturally, Venus also became a musician and was an award winning clarinetist for 7 years, and she plays the guitar and drums. She was a big part of the local music scene in and around Dallas and Fort Worth when she co-founded an artist support website in 2004 that supported artists, actors, musicians, and poets. She was the website designer and music critic. The organization hosted concerts and she conducted the photography and interviews of bands like “The All American Rejects”, “Bowling For Soup” and many local bands. The company disbanded about the same time Venus was discovering her passion for painting.

After college Venus turned to a career as a professional artist. 

Her love for art became a desire to explore painting. Venus was drawn to the meaning and expression in art. She’s always been an art lover, but it was in understanding art is more than a beautiful picture, it often has deeper meaning. Art was a fascination she fell in love with and it led her to become a serious artist. And by 2005 she was fully immersed in painting full time and began selling her works around the world.  She was sought after at art shows and galleries and acquired interviews with magazines, radio stations and podcasts. One of her paintings was purchased to be placed in a museum. One of her works was featured on the magazine cover of the College Humanities Association. CCHumanities.org  Venus was the featured artist of the week in October 2017 at the London Art Bar Artist of the week: Venus.  4 months later, London Art Bar selected her painting as the only one displayed for a new show London Art Bar-Art by Venus

PRESENT WORK

Venus enjoys working with several mediums such as oil, acrylic, pastels, watercolor and paper on canvas. She began painting abstract works and with time and study developed the skills to paint realistic portraits. After reaching this plateau, and as a true artist, she started exploring new ways to create by using her skills to paint works that are more expressive and thought provoking in a way that challenges the viewer. She sets small challenges for herself and is enjoying creating work that is more raw and organic, yet expressive and progressive. The impressionistic qualities in her work feel familiar and relatable while at the same time expresses emotion and beauty. She challenges herself constantly evolving as an artist to remain fresh with new ideas and is a relevant artist, having sold more than 3000 works around the world.

Venus is currently working with the HGTV show “Cheap Old Houses” as one of the contributing artists for their home interior designers. The show reached out to Venus and their designers selected several of her art pieces to be used in decorating the houses in season 2. Filming began in the fall of 2023 and season 2 will premier in the spring of 2024.

CHARITABLE WORK

Venus currently lives in Arlington with her husband and 7 adopted rescue animals. She is a member of the local artist community  Create Arlington  and is active in community outreach supporting many local organizations including Mission Arlington , SafeHaven Women's Shelter  and national organizations Disabled American Veterans the United Services Organizations the American Red Cross, the ASPCA and The Humane Society of the United States

Thank you for visiting!

Venus