About
Kristin Leachman’s paintings are noted for repositioning abstraction, figuration and geometry, making seamless connections between the subliminal and sublime. Her current project, Fifty Forests, explores both pattern and symbolism in the growth formations of trees throughout North America’s fifty states. Born in Washington, D.C., Leachman spent her early years in Virginia and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She earned a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Production Design from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Leachman designed Senzeni Na? (What Have We Done?), Academy Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Film. Her paintings have been presented in one-person exhibitions at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., Kristin Leachman: Xylem Rays, at Laguna Art Museum, and Kristin Leachman: Longleaf Lines at The Georgia Museum of Art. Her work is in the collections at the National Gallery of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, U.S. Department of State, Laguna Art Museum, Georgia Museum of Art and an oral history interview with Leachman is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C.*
CV
Kristin Leachman
BORN
Washington, D.C., USA
EDUCATION
1991 - M.F.A, Production Design, American Film Institute, Los Angeles, CA. The Franklin Schaffner Fellowship
1988 - B.F.A., Painting, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI.
AWARDS / HONORS / RESIDENCIES
1990 - Senzeni Na?, Academy Award Nominee 1990 Best Short Subject, Production Designer
1991 - The Franklin Schaffner Fellowship, American Film Institute, Los Angeles, CA.
2002 - Smithsonian Archives of American Art Oral History Program, Interview (105 min.)
2016 - Artist residency, Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, CA.
2022 - University of Georgia - Signature Lecture Series: Kristin Leachman, contemporary artist, (speakers noted nationally for their broad multidisciplinary appeal and compelling bodies of work.)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022-2023 - Kristin Leachman: Longleaf Lines, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA.
2016-2017 – Kristin Leachman: Xylem Rays, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA.
2009 – New Paintings, Peter Mendenhall Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
2006 – House Spirits, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., (From the Committees, Southern California Council for the National Museum of Women in the Arts)
2005 – House Spirits, Newspace, Los Angeles, CA.
2002 – New Paintings, Newspace, Los Angeles, CA.
2000 – Standard Painting, Newspace, Los Angeles, CA.
1999 – Durable, Newspace, Los Angeles, CA.
1997 – Comfort, Newspace, Los Angeles, CA. 1995 – Newspace, Los Angeles, CA.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 - Zero Horizon-Art of The Forest Floor, Sturt Haaga Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
2021 - Garden, Ladies' Room, Los Angeles, CA.
2016 – Woven, Sturt Haaga Gallery, Descanso Gardens, La Canada, CA.
2009 – Joni and Monte Gordon Art Collection, Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA.
2007 – Luck of the Draw, Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Arts, Santa Monica, CA.
2006 – Good to Go, Newspace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
2004 – Sacping the Planar Nubium, Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA.
2003 – LAPD: Pattern & Decoration in Los Angeles, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, Curated by Michael Duncan
2003 - New Works, Andrew Shire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
1999 - Grid Locked, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA., Curated by Gary Szymanski
1997 - Passages, Matter & Mind, Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA.
1996 – 3 L.A. Artists, Antelope Valley College, Lancaster, CA., Curated by Cynthia Minet
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Art - Washington, D.C.
Georgia Museum of Art - Athens, GA.
The San Diego Museum of Art - San Diego, CA.
U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy - Kabul, Afghanistan
Laguna Art Museum - Laguna Beach, CA.
Washington University Women's Studies Department - St. Louis, MO.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022 - Last Look - Fifty Forests, American Forests Magazine, Winter/ Spring issue
2022 - Kristin Leachman - Longleaf Lines, Longleaf Alliance / The Longleaf Leader, Summer issue.
2016 - Antoine Boessenkool, Art & Nature, Orange County Register, CA.
2016 - Lisa Black, Art bursts out and Nature rushes in, OC Weekly, CA.
2006 – Caroline Weaver, Kristin Leachman’s House Spirits, Women in the Arts, Volume XXIV
2005 – Christopher Knight, Weaving body and mind together, Los Angeles Times, CA. April 15
2005 - Artscene, Los Angeles, CA.
2004 – Michelle Cairella, Scaping the Planar Nubium: Newspace Artists at Fullerton College, Exhibition Brochure
2002 – Peter Frank, Art Pick of the Week, LA Weekly, CA. December
2002 - Paul Karlstrom, Smithsonian Archives of American Art Oral History Program, Interview (105 min.)
2001 – Michael Duncan, Kristin Leachman at Newspace, Art in America, July (reproduction)
2000 – David Pagel, A Few New Curves, Los Angeles Times, December 22
1999 – Berin Gonolu, Around the House: Women Artists Challenge Domestic Traditions, Artweek, September, [reproduction]
1999 - Leah Ollman, Humble Rug Made Lofty by Leachman, Los Angeles Times, CA. April 16
1997 – Susan Kandel, Beauty in ‘Comfort’, Los Angeles Times, CA. October 3
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