Born in Lloydminister, Alberta, in 1956, Grant grew up to study at Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta 1974-78 and then attended the Illustrators Workshop, New York, 1978. With characteristically rich, vivid and saturated colors, Grant Leier’s paintings feature luscious fruits and flowers and cozy tables set for two with wine, candles and food. The checkered floors, tables and patterned fabrics creates a room for our fantasies to inhabit - this is the decorous works of Grant Leier. His paintings can now be found in private and corporate collections across the country.

I grew up on the prairies of Western Canada, a rather sparse environment with little colour during the long winter months. The landscape was open and severe, the sky enormous… Here on Vancouver Island we are enveloped in a comparative lushness year round and the environment tends to swallow you up in its greenness, the sky almost disappears, everything is growing all the time. I am fond of both places, yet I’ve never been interested in painting the landscape. I feel a need to inject intense colour, pattern, and a sense of celebration into everything I paint. I want the ordinary to be exotic, the black dog to be red, the pears to be blue. My focus has been colour, people, animals and… still life. More than anything I want my images to evoke a sense of well-being and goodness… I believe that documenting social and political concerns in the visual arts is important, but I feel it is equally important to pursue the creation of work that simply makes you feel good.