American
B. 1972
Stacy Leeman is a Columbus-based gestural oil painter influenced by Abstract Expressionism and symbolism. She utilizes mark making and the juxtaposition of incongruous colors to create unified and absorbing images, while simultaneously developing a set of symbols in terms of colors, shapes, and underlying images.
Leeman’s paintings begin with an investigation sparked by a question or problem, often from a text, for example, traditional Jewish texts or A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. She mulls over these ideas in her studio using tools, paintbrushes, symbols, canvas, wood, panels, and pigments. She applies paint to the substrate through a series of additive and subtractive methods, while turning the canvas to continually discover and investigate. Leeman arrives at a solution through the creation of a set of symbols and colors.
"Painting for me is, like life, elusive. The more you think you understand the less you really do."
She earned her BA in Studio Art from Oberlin College and Conservatory (Oberlin, Ohio) and her MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Her studies abroad have included a year in Jerusalem and a semester at Parsons School of Design in Paris, France. Leeman’s work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. Her work is held in public and private collections, including Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey). She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Vermont Studio Center.