PDF JIM LEEDY (1930 - ) - ASU Art Museum

[Pages:7]JIM LEEDY ? (1930 - )

Jim Leedy has done it all - painting, printmaking, fabric sky sculptures, performance art, mixed media collaborations and installations - but it is clay that was his first medium and continues to be his favorite. Working first with the Abstract Expressionists on the east coast and then later with contemporary ceramic artists such as Peter Voulkos and Rudy Autio on the west coast, he drew from both and developed his signature work. "The essence of my work is exploration...," Leedy has said1, and he has challenged the perceived limits of ceramic art at every turn, "crossing boundaries," as author Matthew Kangas noted, in the creative arts. In addition to his studio work Leedy has been a gifted teacher, serving on the faculty of the well-known Kansas City Art Institute for over 40 years until his retirement in 2008. In the larger community Leedy was instrumental in creating the Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City, a vibrant area of lofts, restaurants, galleries, and entertainment, including the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center which he cofounded and still serves as Co-Director. Leedys work is included in a number of important collections, and the artist has been the recipient of such prestigious awards as the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Kansas City Art Institute and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charlotte Street Foundation and is an Honorary Member of NCECA.

1. Patricia Catto and Michael Cadieux. "Jim Leedy: the Re-Enchantment of Clay." Ceramics Monthly 43 (February 1995).

ARTIST'S STATEMENT ? JIM LEEDY

"When my mother was pregnant with me, she suffered from anemia and she craved clay in her diet. She would sneak into her secret hiding place and eat clay, so I was literally fed mud as a baby. Like a moth that is drawn to light (and like most children), I was drawn to every mud hole in my youth. The difference was, I ate mud. I came into this world eating clay and no doubt will leave the same way."1

1. Quoted in: Susan Peterson. The Craft and Art of Clay. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1992.

1930 1951-1952 1957

1957-1958

RESUME ? JIM LEEDY

Born, McRoberts, KY

U.S. Army

B.F.A., Richmond Professional Institute, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA Merit Award, Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William and Mary

Teaching Fellow, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

1958 1958-1959

1959 1959-1960 1960-1964 1963 1964-1966 1966-2008 1967 1969 1979 1984 1985-present

1988-present 1989 1990 1992 1995 1996 1996-2000 1999 2003

M.F.A., Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL Teaching Assistant, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Ohio State University, Columbus, OH M.A., Art History, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Associate Professor, Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD Associate Professor, University of Montana, Missoula, MT Research Grant, University of Montana Professor, Ohio University, Athens, OH Professor, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Kansas City, MO Kansas City Regional Council of Higher Education Grant Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant American Institute of Architects Grant Carnegie-Mellon Foundation Grant Founder and Co-Director, Leedy-Voulkos Art Center/Gallery, Kansas City, MO Board President, Leedy-Voulkos Art Center/Gallery, Kansas City, MO Honorary Member, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Visual Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Bemis Fellowship for the Arts Grant Distinguished Achievement Award, Kansas City Art Institute Development Grant, Kansas City Art Institute Margaret Silva Foundation Project Grant Commission, H&R Block, Kansas City, MO Charlotte Street Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award

BIOGRAPHY ? JIM LEEDY

Born in McRoberts, KY, the surviving child of a twin birth, Jim Leedy seems to have been predestined to pursue a career in clay. "My first memories are of crawling into the middle of a dried pond and stacking chunks of sediment," he said. "It seems that we always lived near a clay vein in the hillside in the southeastern states. I made my toys from clay. "1 Growing up in the rural areas of Montana, Ohio and Virginia, his talents in art were recognized early, and the roads and bridges he fashioned from clay convinced his parents he would become an architect. In high school he was the cartoonist for the local paper and learned photography. The latter skill allowed him to serve as a photographer during his time in the military during the Korean War. In Korea he was first introduced to Asian ceramics and raku and saw that pottery in the East, unlike in the West, was held in high esteem. After the war he settled in New York where he attended Columbia University but more importantly became part of the Abstract Impressionist group of artists including de Kooning, Kline, and Pollock, whose work and philosophy were to profoundly influence the direction of Leedys art. Using the benefits of the G.I. Bill, Leedy earned his B.F.A. degree with honors from the Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University, studying Asian art history. From there he went to Southern Illinois University to continue his studies. After earning an M.F.A. in 1958 he continued his education at Michigan State University where he received an M.A. in Art History in 1959.

With a young family to support Leedy turned to teaching as a more secure living, accepting a position at Northern State College in Aberdeen, SD. After a year he received an offer from the University of Montana in Missoula, and his four years there would be defining ones for his art. Rudy Autio was working in Montana at the time and Peter Voulkos, while living in Los Angeles, returned frequently to the area. The synergy among the three artists was to influence all of them. Leedy introduced Autio and Voulkos to aspects of Abstract Expressionism and in return, Leedy states, Autio and Voulkos gave him "...the total acceptance of clay as on completely the same level as painting and sculpture..." 2 In addition, Leedy was influenced by Voulkoss exuberant building style and Autios wrapped vessels. Leedys next moves took him to Ohio and then to Kansas City, MO, where an offer to teach at the Kansas City Art Institute for a year led to a permanent position on the faculty, one he held until his retirement in 2008. In addition to teaching and continuing to pursue his own art, Leedy was instrumental in developing an art center in Kansas City. "After ten years I began growing roots and set up galleries. If Im going to live here, Ive got to create a scene," he said.3 Over a period of years he created the Crossroads Arts District, a thriving entertainment district with lofts, galleries, restaurants, and small shops. The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, which Leedy co-founded in 1985 and where he is still Co-Director, is at the heart of the district and features both established and emerging artists.

The subjects of Leedys work draw from his wide range of experience. He has been inspired by both primitive and Asian art but also by Abstract Expressionism and ultimately, he says, nature itself. His interest in Eastern philosophy and his studies in Taoism and Zen Buddhism have led to his drawing from the creative spirit within himself. At the same time, the horrors he witnessed during his service in the Korean War have not left him, and a portion of his work reflects these dark memories.

Like his subjects, Leedys choice of medium is wide-ranging. He is a noted painter, working in both oil and acrylics, and early in his career was fascinated with printmaking. "Draftsmanship, or the ability to record with my hands what I see with my eyes, was born in me."4 Nylon fabric sky sculptures, large-scale mixed media collaborations and performance art further demonstrate

the reach of his talents. But it is clay that is his primary medium and in which he has done his most well-known work. During his long career he has explored the limits of clay and ceramic technique, from early use of a blowtorch to bond polyester resin chips to clay vessels and the incorporation of Abstract Expressionist painting techniques on plates and vessels, to innovative firing techniques and the embracing of ceramic work that is purely sculptural, not functional. Leedy also was among those taking clay to new heights, literally, producing tall, segmented sculptures and stilted vessels and plates. From these emerged the totem series, sculptures made in carved sections, fired separately, and then reassembled, one section on top of another, imposing and grand. Some of the totems became figurative, incorporating heads and serving as a homage or portrait of their subject. During a period of roughly twenty years Leedy produced a series of totems that explored the male and his various roles in society, often using friends as subjects, and including objects associated with the individual as part of the piece. Mixed media and found objects also found their way into the assemblages.

Leedy continues to live in the present tense. "On some level Ive always known that I could be dead in thirty minutes, so Im a fanatic; I give one hundred percent, whatever Im doing."5 He continues producing his art and promoting the arts in general both in Kansas City and the larger world, "crossing boundaries," as writer Matthew Kangas has said, in the creative arts. He is the recipient of a number of honors and awards, among them grants from the Carnegie-Mellon Foundation, the Missouri Arts Council, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charlotte Street Foundation. Among the many institutions that hold his work are the American Craft Museum, the Everson Museum in Syracuse, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.

"The essence of my work is exploration...My work is about a lifetime search for realism," Leedy has said. "By that I mean getting down to the real materials of stones, landscape, the birth of stars, and the universe."6

1. Patricia Catto and Michael Cadieux. "Jim Leedy: the Re-Enchantment of Clay." Ceramics Monthly 43 (February 1995). 2. Quoted in Matthew Kangas. "Jim Leedy: Prehistoric Modern." American Craft 50 (June/July 1990): 36. 3. Quoted in: Pete Dulin. "A Talk with Jim Leedy." Present Magazine (April 11 2007). 4. Jim Leedy. "Line is the Vehicle." Studio Potter 14 (December 1985) 5. Quoted in: Elisabeth Kirsch. "Jim Leedy." 6. Ibid.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ? JIM LEEDY

Books and Catalogs

Autio, Rudy, Jim Leedy, et al. Distinguished Fires: a Survey of Ceramics in Montana, Yellowstone Art Center. Billings, MT: Yellowstone Art Center, 1995.

Autio, Rudy, Jim Leedy, and Peter Voulkos. Flagstaff to Helsinki and Back, 1980-1983. Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University, Art Gallery, 1983.

Caruso, Laura, and Jim Leedy. Material, Process and Paradox: the Art of Jim Leedy. Kansas City, MO: Leedy-Voulkos Gallery, 1991.

Contemporary Clay: Master Teachers/Master Students. Bowling Green, OH: Office of Marketing & Communications: Fine Arts Center Galleries, 1999.

Kangas, Matthew, and Jim Leedy. Jim Leedy, Artist Across Boundaries. Kansas City: Kansas City Art Institute, 2000.

Leedy, Jim, and Peter Voulkos. Voulkos. [Goffstown, NH?]: Studio Potter, 1993.

Ostermann, Matthias. The Ceramic Surface. Philadelphia, PA: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.

Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1992. _______. Working with Clay, 2nd ed. New York: Overlook Press, 2002.

Sculptural Clay Invitational. Sedalia, MO: Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, 2002.

Periodicals

Autio, Rudy. "{University of Montana Art Gallery, Missoula; Exhibit.}" Ceramics Monthly 29 (December 1981): 91.

Baldwin, D. "Nostalgia et cetera Gallery, Baltimore; Exhibit." Craft Horizons 32 (December 1972): 62.

Breckenridge, B. "John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wis.; Exhibit." Craft Horizons 31 (August 1971): 36.

Cadieux, Michael. "{Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO: Exhibit.}" Ceramics Monthly 32 (May 1984): 77+.

_______. "{Recycled Life: Kansas City Art Institute; Exhibit.}" Ceramics Monthly 30 (May 1982): 77+.

Catto, Patricia, and Michael Cadieux. "Jim Leedy: the Re-Enchantment of Clay." Ceramics Monthly 43 (February 1995): 57-60.

"{A Conversation Between Peter Voulkos and Jim Leedy; Interview.}" Studio Potter 21 (June 1993 suppl): 1-23.

Crumrine, J. "James Leedy, Museum of Contemporary Crafts." Craft Horizons 28 (November 1968): 39.

"Exhibition at Panoras Gallery." Art News 62 (February 1964): 19.

Ferguson, G. "Exhibition at Anna Leonowens Gallery, Nova Scotia College of Art." Craft Horizons 29 (May 1969): 55.

Ferguson, Gerald. "Jim Leedy: Anna Leonowens Gallery, Nova Scotia College of Art." Artscanada 26 (April 1969): 44-45.

Henry, Elaine. "The NCECA Residency Awards." Studio Potter 31 no. 2 (June 2003): 84-85.

Hillix, Virginia. "{Leedy-Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, MO; Exhibit.}" New Art Examiner 13 (May 1986): 62.

Kangas, Matthew. "Jim Leedy (Book Review.) Ceramics Monthly 48 no. 6 (June/August 2000): 30.

_______. "Jim Leedy: Grand Arts." Sculpture (Washington, D.C.) 19 no. 7 (September 2000): 63.

_______. "Jim Leedy: Prehistoric Modern." American Craft 50 (June/July 1990): 32-39.

_______. "{Leedy-Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, MO; Exhibit.}" American Ceramics 8 no. 3 (1990): 49.

Leedy, Jim. "Line is the Vehicle." Studio Potter 14 (December 1985): 54-55.

Lislerud, Ole. "Jim Leedy: American Original." .Ceramics Art and Perception 29 (1997): 50-53.

"Missouri Valley." Studio Potter 11 (June 1983): 56-73.

Peebles, Debra. "The Bad Boys of Clay." Ceramics Monthly 42 (December 1994): 10+.

Raynor, V. "Exhibition at Madison Gallery." Arts Magazine 37 (April 1963): 56.

Risatti, Howard. "Richmond, Virginia: ,,North American Ceramic Sculpture Now." Sculpture (Washington, D.C.) 23 no. 9 (November 2004): 76-77.

Thorson, Alice. "Jim Leedy at Grand Arts." Art in America 88 no. 7 (July 2000): 116.

"University of Kansas, Lawrence; Exhibit." Ceramics Monthly 29 (May 1981): 79+.

Video and Other Media

Autio, Rudy, and Martin Holt. "Rudy Autio Makes Night Music." MT: Montana Art Works, 1994. VHS

Wesselmann, Tom, Fritz Scholder, et al. " Double XX Posed 5 Artist/Songwriters, Tom Wesselmann, Fritz Scholder, Alan Rhody, Jim Leedy, John Heric." [S.l.: s.n., 1990-1994?] CD

GALLERY REPRESENTATION ? JIM LEEDY

Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore, Kansas City, MO 64108

Lacoste Gallery, 25 Main Street, Concord, MA

Eide Art Gallery, Sullivan Ranch Road off Sycamore Canyon Road, P.O. Box 82, Clarkdale, AZ 86324

Dolphin Gallery, 1600 Liberty, Kansas City, MO 64102

WEB SITES ? JIM LEEDY

Web site for Jim Leedy and Leedy-Voulkos Gallery

Pete Dulin. "A Talk with Jim Leedy." Article from Present Magazine.

Article on Charlotte Street Foundation Awards; Leedy won 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award

Biographical video on Jim Leedy

"Best of Kansas City" ? Best Arts Activist 2005, Jim Leedy

Eide Art Gallery web site for Leedy

Article on "At that moment I was an artist: from Bauhaus to Missoula to Baltimore" exhibition featuring Leedy.

Article on Jim Leedy by Elisabeth Kirsch

atnra/leedyW.pdf Jim Leedys artist page from Charlotte Street Foundations "10."

February 2009

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