DEBORAH LEAVY

 

debleavy@gmail.com

EDUCATION

Main Line Art Center, 1996 – 2001, 2006 - present
Wayne Art Center, 2003, 2009 - present
Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, 2004, 2005
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2000 - 2003
Yale Law School, J.D., 1981

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, HONORS, AND AWARDS

Remembering the Suffragists, online at inliquid.org and artsy.net (2020)
Vernal Longing
, online at inliquid.org and artsy.net (2020)
Dual Identities, (solo show), Welcome Gallery, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA, 2019
Honorable Mention, Reflections Through the Lens, Wayne Art Center, 2018
Winter Juried Collection,
3rd St. Gallery, Philadelphia, 2018
Urban Visions
(juried), DaVinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, 2017
Professional Artist Members' Exhibition (juried), Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018
Honorable Mention, Absolutely Abstract (juried), Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, 2016
Wanderings (3-person show), Jed Williams Gallery, Philadelphia, 2016
2016 PHOTOgraphy Show (juried), Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, 2016
Spring Gala Exhibition (juried), Main Line Art Center, Haverford, 2016
First Prize, Expressions of Radnor, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA, 2016
Professional Artist Members' Exhibition (juried), Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA, 2015
Old Enough to Know Better (international,juried), Women's Caucus for the Arts, Philadelphia, 2015
Absolutely Abstract (juried), Philadelphia Sketch Club, 2015
2015 PHOTOgraphy Show (juried), Philadelphia Sketch Club,Philadelphia, 2015
Spring Gala Exhibition (juried), Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA, 2015
Collaborative 22, St. Asaph's Gallery, Bala Cynwyd, PA, 2015
Curator, art exhibits at Theatre Horizon, Norristown, PA, 2014-present
Outer Limits, Art at City Hall (juried), Philadelphia, PA, 2014
Jewels & Treasures (juried), Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA, 2014
Professional Artist Members' Exhibition (juried), Main Line Art Center, 2014
Wayne Art Center Annual Fall Members’ Show (juried), 2009 - 2014
Different Visions: 3 Artists, Old City Jewish Art Center, Philadelphia, 2013
Embracing Abstraction (solo show), Theatre Horizon, Norristown, PA, 2013
Cover art, American Psychologist, May-June, 2013
Artist of the Month, Merion Art & Repro, Ardmore, PA, January 2013
3rd Prize, Absolutely Abstract (juried), Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA, 2012
Muse Gallery Invitational, Philadelphia, PA, 2012
Rubenstein Award, Expressions of Radnor, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA, 2012
Collaborative 34, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2012
Artist of the Month, Main Line Today magazine, December, 2011
Beneath the Surface (solo show), Fireside Gallery, Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA, 2011
Opposites Attract (juried), University of the Arts, 2011
Annual Juried Painting Show, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, 2011
Solo Show Award, Artists Equity Juried Exhibition, Wayne Art Center, 2011
Honorable Mention, Feast the Eyes (juried), Wayne Art Center, 2010
Royalty Printing Award, Annual Members’ Show, Main Line Art Center, 2010
Small Worlds, Plastic Club, Philadelphia, 2010
Seven7, Goggleworks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA, 2010
Devotion (juried), Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, 2009
Artisan Showcase Invitational, Marketplace Design Center, Philadelphia, 2009
Collaborative 26, Third Street Gallery, Philadelphia 2009
land/SCAPES, two-person show, Tyme Gallery, Havertown, PA, 2009
Art for the Urban Collector, Highwire Gallery, 2009, 2008
Annual photography show (juried), Tyme Gallery, Havertown, PA, 2007
Spirit Shrines/Crete (solo), Welcome Gallery, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA 2006
Annual Continuing Education Student Show (juried), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 2002
Interiors (juried), Main Line Art Center, 2000
Food for Thought (juried), Main Line Art Center,1999

STATEMENT

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
-- Danny Kaye, actor, comedian, and painter

I have tried to take that exuberance and apply it to my life and to my work. The journey has taken me from left brain to right brain, from being a lawyer to following my lifelong passion to paint. Almost twenty years later, my journey continues with the inclusion of photography.

Embracing the freedom of contemporary imagery, I experience form, space, color, and movement through the idiom of abstraction. I seek layers, history, and pentimenti, often finding it in the urban landscape. Visual fragments are absorbed as a resource for both mediums.

What is revealed, what is hidden, what used to be and what remains describe both the subject and the process of my work. The Japanese call it wabi sabi, finding beauty in imperfection, decline, and decay.

Thus I attempt to draw the viewer in, to pause and discover.