Peggy Leonard received her BFA in painting and drawing and an associate’s degree in nursing from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She is both a registered nurse, and accomplished artist, residing in Milwaukee, WI.

From the artist:

“These paintings are my prayers,” muses Leonard, reflecting on her driving need to express herself through her art. “We are made of the stuff that requires us to respond with our hearts and hands. Often, it requires terrible sacrifice and suffering, something not everyone can understand. But it is done with reverence of life, not irreverence.”

Leonard’s pastels and oil paintings capture her reverence of life and reflect her own life’s journey, including earlier forays into the wilderness. Her venture into art began in early childhood, as childless neighbors nurtured her natural ability to draw; concurrently, Leonard’s parents instilled a respect for academic excellence and the higher order of nurturing others.

As a young nurse, Leonard “heard and saw poignant messages to travel while one was young and free…while one had one’s health.” Consequently, she took to the open road and public lands, camping across America for months at a time. During these years, her “celebration of the natural splendor of this country” helped shape her sense of artistic expression. She was moved by such sights as the sunset on St. Mary’s Lake in Glacier National Park and triple rainbows over Taos Mountain- scenes that exposed her to “a magical movement of light, color, and energy upon the horizon that changed me forever.”

Born 1953, Mentor, Ohio

Education:

1995                       Doug Dawson Workshop, Scottsdale Artists School
1994                       Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, "Pastel and Mixed Media"
1993                       Pastel Society of America Scholarship
1989                       Albert Handel Pastel Workshop, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1987                       Cardinal Stritch College: Bookbinding and Papermaking
1983                       Bernard Plossu Photography Workshop, Pilar, New Mexico
1978-1980            University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
1979                       Pabst Brewing Company Scholarship
1971-1975            Miami University of Ohio; A.D. Nursing, 1975; B.F.A., 1980

Solo Exhibitions:

1996                       "The Chosen Path", David Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1994                       Unitarian Church North, Mequon, Wisconsin
1991                       Dorothy Bradley Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1983                       Uihlein Hall, Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                West Bank Cafe, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1980                       Mentor Public Library, Mentor, Ohio
                                Wisconsin Women's Club, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                St. Mary's Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1979                       University National Bank, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                Plankinton Mall Arcade, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Selected Exhibitions:

1996                       People's Prefectural Celebration, Chiba, Japan
                                "The Best and the Brightest", Scottsdale School of Fine Art,
                                Scottsdale, Arizona
1995                       David Barnett Gallery - Pastel Anthology, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                Lakefront Festival of the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1994                       Unitarian Church North, Mequon, Wisconsin
1991                       Lakefront Festival of the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                Kohler Art Festival, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
1990                       Lakefront Festival of the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Purchase award by Findley Adhesive Company, Milwaukee
                                Artfair on the Square, Madison, Wisconsin
1983                       "New Mexico Artists Against Nuclear Arms" donation purchased.
                                "Photographs from Bernard Plossu Workshop", Pilar, New Mexico
1982                       "Of Paper", Wisconsin Women in the Arts, Marine Bank, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1981                       "Paintings on Paper", Wisconsin Women in the Arts, Marine Bank, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
                                Midwestern Show of Fine Arts, Waukesha, Wisconsin,
                                Awarded Third Place
1979                       Milwaukee Sentinel Active Americans Arts and Crafts Show
                                Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Awarded Honorable Mention

Represented by:

David Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Private collections and commissions in Milwaukee, Racine, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Santa Fe, and Sydney, Australia.

Honors:
June 10-20, 1996 Selected as artist ambassador and exhibitor in Japan representing Wisconsin through Wisconsin/Chiba, Inc.