Courtney M. Leonard (born 1980) is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, and activist from the Shinnecock Nation in Long Island, New York.[1] Her work revolves around issues of ecology and Native identity, specifically their intersection with water, which is essential to the Shinnecock. Leonard primarily uses clay and her ceramic artwork has been inspired by the whaling coastal culture of the Shinnecock Nation. She has contributed to the Offshore Art Movement and now focuses on her work, BREACH, which is centered on environmental sustainability.[2]
Courtney Leonard was born in 1980 in Long Island, New York. She is a member of the Shinnecock Nation, an indigenous community with historical connections to water, fishing, and whaling.[3] Leonard's early life and her identity was heavily influenced by the coastal way of life of the Shinnecock community.
In 2014, Leonard began BREACH, a mixed media project that delves into the multiple definitions of the word, as well as, how it pertains to her life as a member of the Shinnecock Nation.[4] With her work, she confronts audiences with the question, "Can a culture sustain itself when it no longer has access to the environment that fashioned its culture?"[2]
Courtney M. Leonard attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received her associate degree in art and museum studies in 2000. Two years later, she received her bachelor's degree from Alfred University's NY College of Ceramics. Leonard received her Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008.[9]
Artworks
Leonard has been working with clay since she was a little girl but her first experience understanding the connection between herself and working with clay was in high school.[10] From then on, she began using her artwork with ceramics to focus on the issues that the Shinnecock community faces with the ocean environment and sustainability.[9]
Artifice, BREACH: LOG 16
Artifice, 2016. Micaceous clay with glaze. This sculpture is a hollow medium-sized oval that has holes perforating its entire surface. The artwork is meant to resemble man-made artificial reef structures.
BREACH #2, 2016. Glazed ceramics on Pallet. This artwork showcases various whale teeth made from clay, piled on a wooden pallet.
SEWA SIS, 2017. Mixed Media Acrylic on Canvas, 48" x 36" x 2". This painting is a portrait of a young woman of the Shinnecock nation. She is dressed in traditional Shinnecock clothes with ivory jewelry.
2011: Counting Coup, Invitational, Curator: Ryan Rice, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2014: “50 from 6”: Contemporary Ceramic Art From 6 Rocky Mountain States, Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery, Utah Toi Ngapuhi, International Invitational Exhibition, Northland College, Ngapuhi, New Zealand Changing Hands: 3, Invitational, Curator: Ellen Taubman, Dave McFadden, Museum of Arts & Design, NY, NY 50/50: Fifty Artists, Fifty Years, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), Santa Fe, NM
2015: Art In Embassies Program: Limited Edition Prints, Invitational, IAIA & U.S. Embassies, USA/International Imago Mundi: Luciano Benetton Collection, Invitational, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy Courtney M. Leonard & Frank Buffalo Hyde, Collaborative Exhibition, Modern West Fine Art, Salt Lake City, UT RISD: Radical Investigations of Systems and (Dis)connections, Invitational, RISD Memorial Hall, Providence, RI
2016: Radical Seafaring, Invitational, Curator: Andrea Grover, Parish Art Museum, Southampton, NYThe Path We Share, Invitational, Curator: David Diviney, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia
2017: Without A Theme, Invitational, Pequot Museum, Mashantuckett, CT People of Color People of Clay, Invitational, Curator: Leslie King Hammond, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MDWe The People: Serving Notice, Invitational, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
2018: Trees Also Speak, Invitational, Curator: Catherine Bernard, State University of New York (SUNY), Westbury, NYTHEY, Invitational, Curator: Roberto Lugo, The Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY Small Favors, Invitational, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA (in) Visible, Invitational, Curator: Amanda Barr, NCECA 2018 Concurrent Exhibition, Braddock Carnegie Library, PA
2024: The New Transcendence at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York, NY
Leonard, Courtney, “On BREACH: Logbook 20 | NEBULOUS”, Form and Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics, University of Washington Press, May 2020
Leonard, Courtney, “The Art of Otherness”, 2018 NCECA Journal, pp 88–89
Leonard, Courtney, “Without A Map: Staying In Clay (The Strategist)”, 2018
Burnet, Carand: “Curating New Conclusions”, Art In New England, July/August, 2017, Meer, Althea: “Makers + Mentors: Hands-on with Leaders of Native Fashion.” Blog. The National Museum of the American Indian. NMAI, June 16, 2016. Web. 3. December. 2017.
Quimby, Ella Marie: “Visiting Artist Explores Arctic Connections”, UAF Sun Star, November 22, 2016
Meier, Allison: “Navigating the Recent Wave of Renegade Seafaring Art”, Hyperallergic, July 1, 2016
Levere, Jane L.: “Review: Exhibition at Parish Museum Celebrates Rule Breaking”, June 24, 2016
Young, Beth: “When Artists Take To The Sea, All The World’s A Canvas”, East End Beacon, May 29, 2016
Trimble, Lynn: “BREACH LOG 16”, Phoenix New Times, June, 2016
Montgomery, Katrina: “Poetic and Political”, ASU Now, April 8, 2016
ICMN Staff, “IAIA Alumni Produce Prints for US Embassies Around The World”, Indian Country Today, December 11, 2015
Abatemarco, Michael: “Art In Review: Courtney M. Leonard at MoCNA”, Pasatiempo, October 24, 2014
Roberts, Kathaleen: “Exploring Intersections: Courtney Leonard Produces a Dialogue Between Artist and Viewer”, ABQ Journal, November 29, 2013
Awards
Leonard has received many awards, and residencies from institutions such as, The Andy Warhol Foundation, The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, The Rasumon Foundation, The United States Art In Embassies Program.[12] She was awarded the 2018 National Artist Fellowship from The Native Arts and Culture Foundation.[2]
References
↑ Soulé, Barbara (January 9, 2018). "Courtney M. Leonard". Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
1 2 3 Yeahpau, Mandy (January 9, 2018). "Courtney M. Leonard". Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
↑ "WHO WE ARE". Shinnecock Nation. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
