Photos: Artist sells Thomas trains at Port Moody holiday market

If 2024 is a bellwether for Alex Lecce’s career, the Port Coquitlam artist has a bright future.

This year, the painter, drawer and sculptor with diverse needs showed and sold his art at five galleries in Metro Vancouver — the most recent at the Blackberry Winter Market at PoMoArts.

There, the 29-year-old artist has figurines on display in the Port Moody hub: painted clay moulds inspired by the book Thomas the Tank Engine, animals and holiday ornaments.

His work for the market follows his entries in the 2024 Art 4 Life show at PoMoArts, in which his paintings and portraits won rave reviews from viewers during Culture Days this fall, including from Port Moody’s fire chief who commissioned Lecce to paint the Inlet fire station.

Lecce’s art has also appeared on the album cover to the track “Sleeping Angel” by musician Etienne Siew, a Dr. Charles Best Secondary grad who released Chasing Dreams this year.

In an interview at PoMoArts this week, Lecce said he gets his ideas from childhood themes.

“I love trains, Transformers and Beatrix Potter,” he told the Tri-City News on Monday, Dec. 9.

“Being an artist makes me feel happy. I feel very proud to be included in these shows.”

A baker’s assistant at Gabi and Jules in Port Moody who also works at a New Westminster restaurant, Lecce said he’s impressed by the quality of the art in the Blackberry market.

In total, 65 artists and artisans — most of them Tri-City residents or with the Blackberry Artist Society, which runs the gift shop at PoMoArts — have crafted pieces for the annual market for holiday shoppers to pick up, such as pottery, jewelry, glass designs, soaps, candles and quilts.

For this year, organizers have also included a fundraiser to help the Immigrant Link Centre Society, a nonprofit that rescues surplus food and donates it to new Canadians in need.

Next month, it plans to open a community kitchen in Coquitlam to serve 1,000 meals a week.

Market visitors can add a donation at the till with their market buys to support the kitchen.

PoMoArts is calling for a professional artist to mentor Alex Lecce in 2025. Candidates can email Deanna Kayne at [email protected] for details.

2024 Blackberry artists

Participating artists from the Blackberry Artists Society