Recent works of Chris Leonard will be on exhibition at the Richardson Gallery in the Art Building at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College 
Location: Richardson Art Gallery in Art Building
Location: Richardson Art Gallery in Art Building
The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College
80 Fort Brown
Brownsville, TX 78520
Brownsville, TX 78520
Opening Reception: September 17
Last day to view work: September 28
Admission: $3.00
(Free to Patron of the Arts members. Student semester passes available for $5.00)
Gallery Hours: Monday through Thursday 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., closed 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M., and Friday 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
Closed: weekends and university holidays
An exhibit featuring Chris Leonard’s recent works will be opening on September 17, 2007 at 6:30 P.M. at the Richardson Art Gallery in the Art building at the University of Texas at Brownsville. It will run from September 17 through September 28. Gallery hours are from Monday through Thursday, 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 PM, closed from 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M., and open Friday 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. The gallery will not be open on weekends and university holidays. Admission is $3.00, and it is free to Patron of the Arts members. Students may purchase semester passes for $5.00 dollars.
Chris Leonard is a ceramic artist and a painter. He is currently an art lecturer at the University of Texas Pan America, teaching ceramics. He graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and received a Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Texas Pan American. His work has been displayed nationwide. Exhibits include “From the Ground up 13” at the Las Cruces Museum of Art in Las Cruces, New Mexico, “CatManDoodad City OK” at the Murray State College, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, “International Tea Bowl Invitational Exhibition” at the NAU Art Museum, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, “Cuatro Gatos: Chris Leonard, Paul Valadez, Izel Vargas and Carl Vestwebber” at Murray State College, Tishomingo, Oklahoma and “Untitled Presents: Adapt: Adapt” at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, Tennessee. He was awarded the Museum of Art Purchase Award for “Gato Borracho Bottles, Six Pack of Small Blue.” Leonard’s work has been featured in various publications, including Voices of Art Magazine.
Chris Leonard’s Artist Statement:
Clay/Paint/Imagination: Leonardland is the sort of place where anything could make sense. The pursuit of sensibility in our/my part of the physical world and the ongoing of assault of mixed messages and multi cultures is my focus. I am examining the human condition—specifically my own human condition—through a humanoid extension of the feline friends that cruise in and out of my life. Cats have taken center stage and certainly haven’t worked their way out of my system. I like the curious mix of independence and indifference almost any cat seems to possess. Plus, unless they’re black, nobody really seems to care much about what color a cat may happen to be. Humans don’t always land on their feet, but cats do.
I like the multiple possibilities of synonymous meanings that can originate with the word cat. Who wouldn't want to be a cool cat? A hep cat? A pussy cat! Current investigations into the multitude of feline friends include a variety of mediations on mortality. When compared to immortality, nine lives certainly seem like a happy medium. Nine times an average of an optimistic seventy years yields 630 years, a healthy dose of time here on earth: An optimistic imagination, pure impossibility? I’d certainly bargain for an additional four or five hours a day. One could get a bit closer to all the wonders that clay holds while quite possibly finishing a couple of cross word puzzles at the same time.
Cat’s aren’t the only meow: Leonardland seems to have become a haven for borrachos, maranos, as well as a few peros calientes. I like playing god with my little universe and matching the little creatures off two by two. And why not, a flood may be coming
Chris Leonard
(956) 457-5925
Leonardskirules@hotmail.com http://www.leonardski.com/
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