Gwyneth Leech
Gwyneth Leech
New York City, NY, United States
About Gwyneth Leech
New York City artist, Gwyneth Leech has exhibited her drawings, paintings and installations across the United States and the United Kingdom in a wide variety of museum, commercial gallery, public art and alternative spaces. Since the middle of 2015, she has been focused on documenting in oil paintings and ink drawings the progress at numerous interior and exterior construction sites in Midtown Manhattan as the area undergoes major physical and demographic changes. "Construction Series", her first exhibition of this new artwork, was on view in Fall 2016 at the headquarters of Sciame, a major building company in New York City. On October 19th and 21st, 2017 she will be opening her studio at 315 West 39th Street in Manhattan to preview her most recent constuction paintings, including Hudson Yards and 53West53rd. Click HERE for details. Gwyneth Leech is well known for her artwork on used coffee cups which she exhibited widely as site specific installations, starting in 2011 in the Window Space for Public Art on West 39th Street in New York City's Garment District . Her presence at work in the window was a significant part of the project. In the fall of 2011, the cup project transferred to the Flatiron Prow Artspace, 23rd and Broadway, NYC. The artist was in residence working in public five days a week from September 2011 to February 2012, resulting in a final collection of 850 drawings and paintings on her used coffee cups and a feature article in the New York Times. Subsequently, "Drawings 1-655" were included in "Luxuriant Refuse" at the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Art, Spring, TX in 2012. In September 2013, "365: A Year in Cups", a window installation for Anthropologie Regent Street, was a highlight of the London Design Festival. Gwyneth Leech went on to create site-specific cup installations for City Without Walls Gallery in Newark, NJ, Concepto Gallery, Hudson, NY, and in New York City for No Longer Empty, Westbeth Gallery, Hewitt Gallery at Marymount Manhattan College and for the Susan Teller Gallery. Her largest cup installation, "1001 Cup Stories" was shown at the Harris Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for ArtPrize 2014 and was voted in the top 10 art installations. Prior projects include a series of alternative family portraits in oils called Perfect Families which was first shown in a New York City commercial gallery in 2006, toured a variety of community and alternative art spaces, and traveled to the Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum. Gwyneth Leech received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, and a BFA and Post Graduate DA from Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK. The recipient of numerous awards and grants, including several Scottish Arts Council awards, a University of Colorado's President's Fund Grant, an Elizabeth Greenshields Memorial Award and a Thouron Fellowship, Leech's artwork resides in important private and public collections.
Education:
Post Graduate DA, 1985, Drawing and Painting,
Edinburgh College of Art, (University of Edinburgh), UK
BFA, 1984, Drawing and Painting,
Edinburgh College of Art, (University of Edinburgh), UK
BA, 1981, Anthropology and French, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Events:
2017 - Art in Embassies Group Exhibition, U.S. Ambassador's Residence,
Cotonou, Benin, West Africa
2016 - Gwyneth Leech: Construction Series, Sciame, New York, NY
2015 - Gwyneth Leech: Themes and Variations, ARTWorks Gallery, Norwalk, CT
September 2015: "Works on/with Paper", Concepto Gallery, Hudson, NY.
May, 2014: "Time Frames Marking Time", Westbeth Gallery, NYC. Curated by Elisa Decker and Barbara Lubliner.
Exhibitions:
2013
"365 a Year in Cups" will be in the window of Anthropologie Harvard Square, Cambridge MA. November
365 - A Year in Cups, Anthropologie Regent Street, London Design Festival, London, UK, September
2011-2012
Gwyneth Leech, The Cup Drawings, Sprint Flatiron Prow Artspace, New York City
2011
Gwyneth Leech, The Cup Drawings, Fashion Center Window Space for Public Art
New York City
Gwyneth Leech, The Cup Drawings, Buck House, New York City
2010
Family Portraits, Art At First, First Presbyterian Church, New York City
2009
Family Album, New York Public Library, Columbus Branch, New York City
2007
Perfect Families, Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum, Marshall, MN
2006
Perfect Families, Franklin 54 Gallery, New York City
Gwyneth Leech: Stations of the Cross, Equator Books and Gallery, Venice, CA
2005
Stations of the Cross, a permanent installation of 14 paintings, Saint Paul's Church, Norwalk, CT
2000
Roundabout, La MaMa La Galleria, New York City
1998
Gwyneth Leech, Peterborough Cathedral,
Peterborough Cathedral Arts Festival, UK
1995
African Diary, Boundary Gallery, London, UK
1994
Notes From A Journey, Compass Gallery,
Glasgow, UK
1990
Fossil Tide, Ayr Art Gallery and Museum,
and Kilmarnock Art Gallery and Museum, UK
Fossil, Dundee Museum of Natural History,
UK
1989
Gwyneth Leech, Edinburgh Printmakers' Workshop Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
1988
La Poule, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, UK (multi-screen video installation)
PUBLIC DRAWING PROJECTS
2013 – Public cup drawing project for No Longer Empty Curatorial Lab exhibition at 24 West 8th, NYC
2012 – Public Drawing workshops and Talks, Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts,
Spring Texas, as part of Luxuriant Refuse.
2011/12 – Five Month residency, public drawing project and exhibition of upcycled coffee cup art, Sprint Flatiron Prow Artspace, NYC.
2012 - Visiting artist talk and cup drawing workshop at the PS51 school, and for eight visiting school groups at the Flatiron exhibition site
2011 – Six week residency, public drawing project and exhibition, Fashion Center Window Space for Public Art, NYC
2010 – Public Drawing Project – Family Tree – as part of Figment Summer Festival, Governor’s Island, NYC
2010 – Public Drawing Project – Family Album – as part of the Pool Art Fair at the Gershwin Hotel, NYC.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
City Shift: Leech/Gallagher and the Pintos at Susan Teller Gallery, NYC
Diptychs, Triptychs and Multiples, cWOW, Newark, NJ
Gathering Place, No Longer Empty Curatorial Lab Exhibition, at 24 West 8th Street, NYC
2012
Luxuriant Refuse, Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Art, Spring Texas,
2011
On Your Mark: The Inner Necessity of Methodical and Unrestrained Drawing
Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, New York City
2010
All in the Family, Islip Art Museum, Islip, New York
Helluva Town, Susan Teller Gallery, New York City
Studio on a Bed, a public drawing project, Pool Art Fair, New York City
Family Tree, a public drawing project, Figment Arts Festival, Governor's Island, NYC
2009
Day Job, Susan Teller Gallery, New York City
2007
Unusual Portraits, Hudson Guild Gallery, New York City
2006
Don't Talk about Religion and Politics, Ave 50 Studio Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Imprints on the Landscape, Michael Gallagher Prints and Gwyneth Leech videos,
Community Arts Center Galleries, Penn State University, Altoona, PA
Drawing the Line, Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum, Marshall, MN
2005
The Family Business: 1877-2005, Susan Teller Gallery, New York City
In the Round, Arts Council Gallery and John Slade Ely House, New Haven, CT
2003
Notebook, Pickard Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art,
Artscape Festival, Baltimore, MD
2002
Leech/Gallagher: Five Artists / Three Generations, Cosmopolitan Club, Philadelphia, PA
2001
Leech/Gallagher: Five Artists/Three Generations, Susan Teller Gallery, NYC
Faculty Exhibition, Addams Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2000
Shiku Hakku: Exhibition/performance with Indalo Artists, La Mama Experimental Theater Club, New York City
Scottish Spirit, Society of Scottish Artists at the University Art Gallery
Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI
1999
Scottish Spirit, at the Gallery of Contemporary Art University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, CO
Scottish Spirit at Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA
1998
Continental Shift, Six American Artists from Scotland, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, UK
Scottish Spirit, at the Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
and at the Centre for Innovative Print and Paper,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
The Big Picture, Works from the Collection, Edinburgh City Art Galleries
1997
BP Portrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery, London and British tour
Introductions, Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia
Double Exposure, the Society of Scottish Artists,
Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen,
and the Gallery, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, UK
A Patch of their own, Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1996
African Themes, Surya Art Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska
Celebrating Robert Burns, Compass Gallery, Glasgow, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries & McLaurin Art Gallery, Ayr, UK
A Sense of Place III, the SSA at MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling University, UK
Brave Art, the SSA at Mayfest, 18 King Street Gallery, Glasgow
1995
Morrison Portrait Award Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy
1994
Xylon 12 Triennale, Gewerbemuseum, Switzerland and European tour
Spectator/Adam Award Exhibition, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Drawing Near, Arts in Fife touring exhibition, UK
1991
Kershaw, Leech and Lindsley: Wood engravings, Halifax House, Oxford, UK
1990
Duffin, Leech and Roberts, Kelly Gallery, Glasgow
An Expanse of Never Ending Blue, Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury and British tour
St. Mary's Commission, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow