Leona Shanks is a Philadelphia-based figurative artist. As a student, Leona explored various art curricula, including a sculpture program with Evangelos Frudakis, and a four-year apprenticeship with artist Nelson Shanks from 1985 to 1989. Shanks’ studio apprentices would help manage his professional studio and assistant-teach with him at The Art Students League of New York. In 1989 Leona and Nelson married, subsequently traveling the world as Nelson painted commissions of European royalty and international icons. In 2002, Leona and Nelson founded Studio Incamminati, School for Contemporary Realism, in Philadelphia. Leona continues to be part of the school’s leadership today.