Leah Romano McMeen is an artist and graphic designer based in Northwest Indiana. Working in oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor, she blends realism and impressionism to capture the spirit of place and the quiet narratives woven through landscape, wildlife, and community.
Born and raised in southeastern Michigan, Leah has lived in Northwest Indiana since 2013. The landscapes surrounding southern Lake Michigan—from the woods, fields, and shoreline of Michigan to the Indiana Dunes—have become an enduring influence on her work. Shifting light, seasonal change, native ecosystems, regional architecture, and the layered histories embedded in familiar places all inform her visual language and atmospheric approach to paint.
Leah co-founded the creative agency Openhill and brings more than twenty-five years of design experience to her studio practice. Her background in visual communication informs a strong sense of composition, structure, and storytelling across both client work and fine art. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, with a minor in Printmaking, from the University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts.After stepping away from painting for more than twenty years while building a design career and raising a family, Leah returned to fine art in 2024. Since then, her work has been selected for juried exhibitions across the United States, with a growing exhibition record throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond.
Selected Exhibitions & Recognition
Leah's work has been selected for regional, national and international juried exhibitions, including exhibitions at the Phippen Museum, South Shore Arts, South Haven Center for the Arts, and national exhibitions of the Pastel Society of Colorado, Chicago Pastel Painters and MidAmerica Pastel Society. She was awarded Signature Status with the MidAmerica Pastel Society in 2026.
