This talk exemplifies Lee at his characteristic best--to get people and institutions fired up for art.  Throughout this talk, which is perfect as a keynote, Lee will discuss his personal love for art and how pilgrimaging 600 miles of the Way of St. James in Spain brought him back to that love in the face of a severe setback.  Using "sexy legs" as metaphor, Lee will discuss how art and the Way has made him a better person and suggest ways in which they can help you too.  Featuring his own breathtaking photography, Lee will discuss the history of the Way, and how you too can be fired up for art through pilgrimage and adventure.

In 2009, the world's most fired-up art historian Lee Sandstead lectured to over 14,000 art educators and enthusiasts spreading the gospel of art wearing 100% polyester crazy pants.

This year--the pants come off. 

In June and July of 2010, Lee hiked 600 miles through Southern France and Northern Spain along the medieval pilgrimage route known as the Way of Saint James; visiting over 1,800 historic sites--from Romanesque chapels, to Gothic Cathedrals to medieval icons, to Templar hold outs. Lee and his camera slept everywhere from medieval churches to ancient hospitals to forgotten monasteries.   And at the end, he danced under the famous stars of Santiago de Compostela and visited the bones of Saint James. 

In so doing, he regained that thing he’d lost.  His love for art and his career in art.

Over Thanksgiving 2009, Lee became sick and perforated his esophagus and windpipe through coughing. Duke University Hospital spent the next 25 days repairing and cleaning him up through two major surgeries.  In the interim, he contracted pneumonia was unable to eat or drink anything via mouth for 39 days and suffered from a collapsed lung.  He lost 47 pounds and was sent home with the body of an extremely frail, 95-year-old man suffering severe pain.   

The good news is that he lost no body parts, never has to worry about this happening again, nor has to take any medications.  The bad news is that Lee’s 24-hour, non-stop, passionate love affair with art was unduly interrupted!  Since the mid-nineties, he has been exploring every facet of art with all his being.  Now, since “the incident,” he faced his first major setback.

Hence, the pilgrimage along the Way.  Lee sweat, bled and battled daily exhaustion in his fight to complete his rehabilitation and to love art and his career as he once did.  This trip was not about religion.  It was about one art historian’s love for art; and his attempt to get that love back.  To once again be the “world’s most fired-up art historian.”

And in the process, get some real sexy legs!