A firm believer in the invigorative
and restorative powers of the arts, Doug Leblang has used his artistry to benefit all people, especially those in institutional environments. Among his many community art projects, he has worked with psychiatric patients in Queens, guided homeless people in a Manhattan shelter in producing weekly group collages and directed a sixty foot group painting of the seasons at Morningside House in the Bronx, as well as ten collaborative murals that transformed Harlem’s Ivy House’s cellar into a bright day care center. In 2004 the New York City Health and Hospital Art Collection selected two of Doug’s images for its exhibit, “JAZZ and the Visual Arts” at the Queens Hospital Center. Most recently he has had the successful exhibition “Middle Village of Old” at the Queens Library at Middle Village. He is a member of the Queens Council on the Arts and the Alliance of Queens Artists. His work is also featured on the popular website Forgotten NY.

Doug majored in art history at Boston University and was deeply moved by the work of Edgar Dégas, Edward Hopper, and Johannes Vermeer. Doug received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, studying with such acclaimed artists as Brad Holland, Milton Glaser, and Harvey Dinnerstein. He became a successful commercial illustrator, designer, and art director in corporate America for thirty years and is now a full-time fine artist and art instructor.

Doug is also a popular entertainer/
comedian at many city facilities including the 92nd St Y.
As a singer/musician he entertains one hundred needy people every Thursday at the B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue Soup Kitchen in Manhattan. As a musical artist-in-residence for FEGS, a worldwide organization that helps challenged people, he will form a musical group composed of developmentally disabled people in September 2006.