Essay: Deanna Leamon

Shroud 2, 2007

Mixed media

60 x 40 in

DEANNA LEAMON

by Wim Roefs

2007

Deanna Leamon’s work is about humanity and its flip side, inhumanity, inflicted by humanity upon itself. For her current Shroud series, the impetus came from photographs of Iraqi war victims wrapped in cloth. 

Leamon collected newspaper photographs about Iraq, mostly from the New York Times, for two years straight. At some point, she says, the Times began showing wrapped, dead Iraqis. “I didn’t base my drawings on specific pictures, because there were so many. I ended up wrapping models in fabric and wrapping skeletons for direct source material.”

“To shroud,” she says, going into dictionary mode, “is, one, to wrap a corpse in burial clothing and, two, to shut off from sight; to screen. The noun form refers to, one, a cloth used to wrap a body for burial, and, two, something that conceals, protects, or screens. Synonyms include to block, hide, or obscure, with the shared central meaning ‘to cut off from sight.’ This evokes what our government does not want us to see and especially doesn’t want us to count – Iraqi casualties. It’s, of course, murky. But a study from Johns Hopkins University last October put the Iraqi casualty figure at 600,000. Since then, who knows?”

The current drawings, Leamon says, continue her concern with individual suffering as a consequence of large bureaucratic exercises of power. “I continue to explore new ways to extend drawing and to make the drawing medium serve the artistic message.”

The Shroud series demonstrates the trademarks of Leamon’s work. She uses great technical skill to create expressive art, typically large graphite or mixed-media drawings that have an immense emotional impact. She combines high formal qualities with unsettling content and imagery. 

In gross anatomy paintings a few years ago, Leamon treated skeletons less as corpses of dead people than the remains of people previously alive. A skeleton with a heart or with an expressive face, including eyes, gave the corpses a still-human touch. In Leamon’s technology drawings of the 1980s, featuring naked figures, she addressed the often-faceless tyranny of bureaucratic power and the disorientation of people lost and displaced by the abuse of technology.

In her widely and nationally exhibited early 1990s Hamlet series, 10 drawings addressed a 1991 disaster in a Hamlet, N.C., chicken-processing plant. When a fire broke out, 25 minimum-wage workers died because the plant’s owner had locked eight of nine exits to keep workers from stealing chickens. The large, monumental charcoal figures on a white background had a sculptural quality that is echoed by the bodies in the Shroud series. The Hamlet figures’ nakedness and unclear race and gender obscured their background, giving them a universal quality, as do the shrouds in the current work. Abuse of power, Leamon seems to suggest, can affect us all. 

The Hamlet figures appeared trapped, literally by how Leamon placed them in space, and figuratively, as obvious helplessness signaled pending death. The Shroud corpses are trapped by space, too, but more so by their wraps and demise. “The images may serve to remind us,” Leamon in the 1990s wrote about her Hamlet drawings, “that these people were real people, not abstractions or statistics.”

Biography: Deanna Leamon

Shroud 1, 2007

Mixed media

30 x 40 1/2 in

Deanna Leamon (b. 1957)

Columbia, S.C., artist Deanna Leamon teaches at the University of South Carolina art department as well as the S.C. School of Medicine, which hosted her 2002 show Lab Drawings. Her work was in Thresholds: Expressions of Art and Spiritual Life, a 2004 exhibition that traveled the Southeast for three years. She also was represented in The Felt Moment, a 2003 show of art from the Carolinas at the Columbia Museum of Art.

Leamon was in 100 Years/100 Artists: Views of the 20th Century, an overview of 20th century South Carolina art at the S.C. State Museum. She has been in group and solo shows across the country. The Alton, Ill., native holds a BA in visual communications from Eastern Illinois University and an MFA from Southern Illinois University. 

Artist's Statement: Deanna Leamon

Shroud 5, 2007

Mixed media

60 x 40 in

SHROUD: To shroud is 1) to wrap a corpse in burial clothing and 2) to shut off from sight; to screen. The noun form refers to 1) a cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet, and 2) something that conceals , protects, or screens (as in, under a shroud of fog). Synonyms include to block, hide, or obscure, with shared central meaning of "to cut off from sight." This evokes what our government does not want us to see (and especially does not want us to count)--Iraqi casualties.

This work continues my concern with individual human suffering as a consequence of large bureaucratic exercises of power. I continue to explore new ways to extend drawing and to make the drawing medium serve the artistic message.

Resume: Deanna Leamon

Shroud 4, 2007

Mixed media

60 x 40 in

DEANNA LEAMON
Art Department, University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC, 29208 (803) 777-9160


Education
1982 M.F.A., Southern Illinois University, Painting
1979 B. A., Eastern Illinois University, Visual Communication

Employment
2002- Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and
Anatomy, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
1997- Associate Professor, Department of Art, University of South Carolina
1991-1997 Assistant Professor, Department of Art, University of South Carolina
1988-1991 Visiting Lecturer, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design
1990-1991 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Art, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
1990-1991 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison
1983-1988 Instructor, Department of Art, St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
1987-1988 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Art, Washington University, St. Louis
1986-1988 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Fontbonne College
1983-1985 Instructor, Department of Art, St. Louis Community College at Meramec

Exhibitions
2005 Traveling Group Show, “Thresholds: Expressions of Art & Spiritual Life” curated by Eleanor Heartney, Morlan Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky
2004 Group Show, “Thresholds: Expressions of Art & Spiritual Life” curated by Eleanor Heartney, Waterfront Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina (Traveling Exhibition)
Invitational Group Show, Bus Stop Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina
2003 Invitational Group Show, “Felt Moment,” Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina
2002 Group Show, “Paintings and Drawings from USC,” University of Newcastle, Ourimbah, Australia.
“Lab Drawings,” USC School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Women’s National Art Invitational,” Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.
Group Show, Art Garage Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina.
“The Hamlet, N.C. Fire: A Collaboration of Fine and Performing Arts,” Sumter Fine Arts Center, Sumter, South Carolina.
Group Show (2nd), Art Garage Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina.
2001 Group Show, Governors School for the Arts, Greenville, South Carolina.
Group Show, South Carolina State Art Collection Exhibit, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina.
“Accessibility,” Invitational Group Installation, Sumter, South Carolina .
Group Show, McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina.
Group Show, McMaster Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina.
One Person Show, Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
“Fievre 2001,” Invitational Group Exhibition, Gallery 291, Greenville, South Carolina.
2000 One Person Show, McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Revelation for Revolution,” Juried Exhibition, Revolving Museum, Boston, Massachusetts.
“What is Drawing Now?” National Juried Exhibition, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah.
1999 One Person Show, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.
One Person Show, Fine Arts Center, Camden, South Carolina.
“100 Years/100 Artists: Views of the 20th Century in South Carolina Art,” South Carolina State Museum.
Faculty Show, McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina.
1998 “Women in the Visual Arts 1998,” International Juried Exhibition, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven Connecticut.
One Person Exhibit, Policy Management Systems Corporation, Columbia, South Carolina.
One Person Exhibit, USC School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina.
1997 One Person Show, Fine Arts Gallery, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
1996 One Person Show, USC Sumter, Sumter, South Carolina.
“Fish Swim in the Lake: Artists Use the Nude,” Invitational Group Exhibition, Winthrop University Gallery, Rock Hill, South Carolina.
“Women in the Visual Arts 1996,” International Juried Exhibition, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven Connecticut, Gallery Award.
with Melody Schaper, “Weaving Dreams of Women,” Theater Production, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
1995 One Person Show, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
“The Female Gaze: Nudes by Women,” National Juried Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
Slide Exhibition, Viridian Gallery Sixth National Juried Exhibition, New York City, New York
“Siteworks 95,” “Flagrant,” Columbia, South Carolina.
One Person Show, USC Spartanburg, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
“Works on Paper,” Invitational Drawing Show, Gallery 291, Greenville, South Carolina.
1994 “Multi Perspectives II,” National Juried Exhibition, Art Place Gallery, Chicago, Illiniois.
Group Show, Gallery 291, Greenville, South Carolina.
Group Show, Lewis and Clark Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina.
One Person Show, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas.
“Drawing on Her Own,” National Drawing Invitational, Eau-Claire, Wisconsin.
Faculty Show, McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina.
1993 “The Figure: 10 Southern Artists,” Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, Lagrange, Georgia.
One Person Show, McKissick Museum, Columbia, South Carolina.
One Person Show, Spirit Square Center for the Arts, Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Works on Paper 1993,” San Jacinto College South, Houston, Texas, Drawing Award
1992 Group Show, Betsy Haven Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina.
One Person Show, University of South Carolina, Aiken, South Carolina.
1991 Two Person Show, Meteor Gallery, Columbia, South Carolina
Group Show, Springs Gallery, Lancaster, South Carolina.
1990 “Wisconsin-’90,” Juried Exhibition, Edna Carlsten Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Steven’s Point, Wisconsin.
Two Person Show, Woodland Pattern Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1989 Drawing Invitational, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Faculty Show, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
1988 Group Show, Design Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
One Person Show, Grae Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
1987 Group Show, S.P.A.R.C. Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
Group Show, Grae Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
Faculty Show, Steinberg Gallery, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Art St. Louis Exhibition,” Gateway One Building, St. Louis, Missouri.
1986 One Person Show, Grae Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Animal Show,” Invitational Exhibition, Seghi Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
Faculty Show, Fontbonne Gallery, Fontbonne College, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Artists Support Big Mountain: A Benefit Exhibition for the Navajo Indians of Big Mountain, Arizona,” 3115 South Grand, St. Louis, Missouri
1985 “Artists for Nuclear Disarmament,” St. Louis, Missouri.
“Drawings and Prints,” Grae Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Previews,” Messing Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
1984 “Four SIU-E Alumni,” Drury College, Springfield, Missouri.
“Meramec Faculty,” Webster College, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Costumes by Ten Artists,” St. Louis Community College at Meramec, St. Louis, Missouri.
1983 Part-time Faculty Show, St. Louis Community College at Meramec, St. Louis, Missouri.
1982 One Person Show, Blackburn College, Carlinville, Illinois.
“DADA Mail Art International,” Los Angeles, California.

Grants
2002 Research and Productive Scholarship Grant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “Balancing Subjectivity with Objectivity: Artistic Anatomical Images.”
1999 Instructional Innovation Grant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “Artistic Anatomy.”
1998a Individual Project Support Grant, South Carolina Arts Commission, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “Producing, Documenting and Framing a Series of Drawings: ‘Humanity’s Fire’”.
b College of Liberal Arts Scholarship Support Grant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “Producing, Documenting and Framing a Series of Drawings: ‘Humanity’s Fire’”.
1995a Instructional Innovation Grant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “Informing Artistic Practices through the Study of Plastic Surgical Technique.”
b Research and Productive Scholarship Grant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “Exhibiting the Hamlet, N.C. Series at the Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL.”
1992 Research and Productive Scholarship Grant, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Project title, “The Hamlet, N.C. Chicken Processing Plant Disaster: A Series of Paintings and Drawings.”

Related Activities
2005 Guild Of Scientific Illustrators Award: Susan W. Frank Memorial Scholarship
2003 Panel Discussion with critic Eleanor Heartney, curator of “Thresholds,” Charlestion, South Carolina, November, 2003
2002 Conference Paper “Remembering Our Mortality,” National Conference of Liberal Arts
and the Education of Artists,” School of the Visual Arts, New York, New York,
October, 2002. (Paper cited in Suzanne Anker and Dorothy Nelkin’s The
Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, New York: Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory Press, 2004, p. 6.)
Conference Paper, “The Objective and Subjective in Anatomical Illustration: A Figurative Artist’s Perspective,” American Association of Anatomists, Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, April, 2002.
Paper, “Balancing Objectivity with Subjectivity: Artistic Anatomical Images,” Medical Humanities Lunch, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
Gallery Talk, “Hamlet N.C. Fire Drawings,” Sumter Fine Arts Center, Sumter, South Carolina.
Paper, “The Objective and Subjective in Anatomical Illustration: A Figurative Artist’s Perspective,” University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina.
2001 Conference Presentation, “New Bodies in the Classroom,” contribution to a panel, “The Vulnerable Body,” Southeastern College Art Annual Conference, 2001.
Conference Panel Organizer and Chair, “The Vulnerable Body,” Southeastern College Art Annual Conference, 2001.
Lecture, “The Gross Anatomy Lab: An Artist’s Perspective,” University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina.
Visiting Artist, Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
2000 Visiting Artist and Guest Lecturer in Figure Drawing, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Visiting Artist, Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
Visiting Artist, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire.
Conference Presentation, “The Humanities in Medical Education: A Southeastern Bioethics Conference,” University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
1999 Visiting Artist, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.
Lecture, “Nineteenth Century Dutch Drawings from the Museum Boijmans-van Beunigen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands,” Columbia Museum of Art, February 7, 1999
1997 Visiting Artist, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
1996 Visiting Artist, Guest Lecturer in Figure Drawing, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina.
1995 Conference Presentation, “Consumers, Spectators or Citizens? The Audience of Politics, Mass Media and the Arts,” Panel, “Public Exhibits: Provocative Investigations,” University of South Carolina.
Visiting Artist, Guest Lecturer in Figure Drawing, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina.
Visiting Artist, University of South Carolina, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
1994 Visiting Artist, Guest Lecturer in Figure Drawing, University of Wisconsin, Eau-Claire, Wisconsin.
Visiting Artist, St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri.
Visiting Artist, Guest Lecturer in Figure Drawing, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Juror for the State of Arkansas “Works on Paper” Competition.
Radio Interview, KUAR, Little Rock, Arkansas.
1993 “Hamlet Remembered: The work of Artist Deanna Leamon,” Feature Story WBTV News, Charlotte, North Carolina, September 3, 1993.
Juror, Aiken Artists Guild, Aiken, South Carolina.
1992 Visiting Artist, Guest Lecturer in Figure Drawing, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Slide Lecture, North Carolina Public Library Directors Association Meeting.
Juror, Student Show, University of South Carolina, Aiken, South Carolina.
1990 Wisconsin Public Radio Interview, WHAD, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1988 Missouri Public Television Interview, St. Louis Artist Series, St. Louis, Missouri
Visiting Artist, St. Louis Community College at Meramec, St. Louis, Missouri.
1987 Visiting Artist, Fontbonne College at Meramec, St. Louis, Missouri.
1986 Gallery Talk, Grae Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri.
1981 “Anti-Formal Trends in Women’s Art of the ’70s,” Panel Discussion Participant, Jody Pinto, guest artist and respondent., 10 May 1981.

Teaching Experience
2004 Artist-Teacher, Vermont College of Union Institute and University, MFA In Visual Arts Program
2002- Artists and Cadavers, University of South Carolina Honors College.
1991- Artistic Anatomy I, II, Advanced Life Drawing, Figure Sculpture: The Head, Graduate Painting and Drawing, Drawing I.
1988-1991 Life Drawing, Freshman Figure Drawing, Sophomore Figure Structure, Junior Figure Drawing, Senior Figure Drawing, Drawing I, Drawing II.
1987-1988 Sophomore Figure Structure, Drawing I, Graduate Drawing, Advanced Painting, Graduate Painting, Art Appreciation.
1986-1987 Freshman Painting, Figure Drawing, Drawing I, Drawing II, Advanced Drawing, Basic Design.
1985-1986 Drawing I, Drawing II, Drawing III, Advanced Drawing, Figure Drawing, Basic Design, Color Theory.
1984-1985 Figure Drawing, Drawing I, Drawing II, Basic Design, Color Theory.
1982-1984 Drawing I, Drawing II, Basic Design, Intermediate Studio Design

Reviews
2004 Teresa Tynes, “Thresholds: Expressions Of Art And Spiritual Life,” Art Papers, March/April 2004, Atlanta, Georgia.
2003 Tom Patterson, “Nothing Finer: Art from Carolinas worth a long, hard look,” Winston-Salem Journal, August 17, 2003, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Dottie Ashley, “Thresholds,” The Post Courier, December 14, 2003, Charleston, South Carolina.
Caroline Saffer, “Peering Into Eternity,” Charleston City Paper, December 3, 2003, Charleston, South Carolina.
Jeffrey Day, “High Thresholds,” The State, December 21, 2003, Columbia, South Carolina.
Jeffrey Day, “Cathedrals of Art,” The State, December 7, 2003, Columbia, South Carolina.
J. Stowell, “Review of Work,” Newcastle Weekender, Newcastle, Australia, March 29, 2003, p. 14.
School of Fine Arts Catalogue 2002-03, “Works on Paper,” Summer 2003, p. 4
2002 Lisa Gieskes, “The Art Garage Brings an Edge to the Local Gallery Scene,” Free Times, January 20, 2002, Columbia, South Carolina.
Jeffrey Day, “Play, Artworks Explore Tragic Fire at N.C. Poultry Plant,” The State, March 21, 2002, Columbia, South Carolina.
Marion Dye, “Past Angry: Drama, Visual Art Combine for Powerful Evening,” The Item, March 22, 2002, Sumter, South Carolina.
2001 Jeffrey Day, “Doors Rise on New Gallery,” The State, November 30, 2001, Columbia, South Carolina.
Jeffrey Day, “Art of the Moment,” The State, October 21, 2001, Columbia, South Carolina.
“In Sumter, Temporary Art Makes a Permanent Impression,” The State, October 4, 2001, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Check Your Vital Signs,” The State, March 1, 2001, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Artist to discuss ‘Vital Inert,’” Herald-Journal, March 1, 2001, Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Mary Gilkerson, “Figurative Works Prominent in USC Faculty Show,” Free Times, January 17, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
1999 Charlotte Smith, “The Figure: Drawings by Deanna Leamon,” Free Times, April 14, 1999, Columbia, South Carolina.
1996 Ellen Todd, “Body Narrative and Gender Politics in Deanna Leamon’s 1993 Hamlet Series,” College Art Association Annual Conference Panel, “The Global Sweatshop: Imagery of Women Factory Workers Around the World.”
“Women in the Visual Arts,” New Haven Register, March 3, 1996, New Haven, Connecticut.
1995 “’95 Artista Vista,” The State, April 1995, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Hamlet: The Untold Tragedy,” Organica Quarterly: A Magazine of Arts and Activism, Volume 14, Number 52, Winter 1995.
“Sculpture and Works on Paper,” South Carolina Arts, Greenville, South Carolina.
“Scorched Art Policy,” New City: Chicago’s News and Arts Weekly, November 30, 1995, Chicago, Illinois.
“Exhibit Examines Differences, Similarities of Gender,” Chicago Sun Times, August 18, 1995, Chicago, Illinois.
1994 “Hamlet Series,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 1994, Little Rock, Arkansas.
“Art that Gives Power to Victims,” The UALR Forum, October 1994, Little Rock, Arkansas.
“USC Art Professors Break New Ground in Exhibition of Works,” The State, November 1994, Columbia, South Carolina.
1993 “Drawings Capture Emotions of Tragedy,” The State, November 1993, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Artist Visualizes Fire Victims Suffering,” The State, November 1993, Columbia, South Carolina.
“The Horror of Hamlet: Drawing by Deanna Leamon,” Black Voice, December 1993, Columbia, South Carolina.
“Charcoal Drawings Depict the Faces of Tragedy,” USC Times, October 1993, Columbia, South Carolina.
“A Few Bright Lights Shown in 1993,” The State, December 1993, Columbia, South Carolina.
1992 “An Artist Responds to Catastrophe,” USC Times, August 1992, Columbia, South Carolina.
1991 “Simple Visions,” The State, December 1991, Columbia, South Carolina.
1990 “Leamon, Hanson Have Their Say in Male-Female Conflict,” Milwaukee Journal, June 1990, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1989 “Drawing 1990: An Invitational Exhibition,” Art Muscle Magazine, November 1989, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1988 “Body Language Reveals Volumes in Drawings by Deanna Leamon,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 1988, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Drawings by Deanna Leamon at Grae Gallery,” Riverfront Times, May 1988, St. Louis, Missouri.
“St. Louis Design Center Opening,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1988, St. Louis, Missouri.
1987 “Washington University Exhibit Shows Talent of 49 Gifted Artists,” West End Word, October 1987, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Grae Gallery Group Show,” West End Word, October 1987, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Art St. Louis III,” Riverfront Times, October 1988, St. Louis, Missouri.
1986 “An Unspecified Tyranny Lurks in Artist’s Work,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 1986, St. Louis, Missouri.
“Leamon’s Masked Figures Reveal Strong Messages,” St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 1986, St. Louis, Missouri.
1985 “Drawings and Prints,” New Art Examiner, Chicago, Illinois, November 1985.
“Grae Gallery Group Show,” St. Louis Globe Democrat, August 1985, St. Louis, Missouri.
1984 “University of Illinois Master’s Recipients Exhibit,” Springfield News, September 1984, Springfield, Illinois.

Profession Membership
Guild Of Natural & Scientific Illustrators

Website
deannaleamon.com