East Gallery

Aug 1 - Oct 24 , 2026

 

Exhibit Statement:

 

Overlap is an exhibition of selected work from the last decade. It includes pieces from several series. I use overlap in various ways. There is a literal overlap found in much of my work. My process involves the piecing and overlap of fabrics, papers, and shapes to create works in mixed media. There is thematic overlap in subject matter. I look at people, place, narrative, and time (past, present, and eternity) as starting points for my work. Finally, there is collaborative overlap. I have worked with artist librarian Lindsay Buehler and creative Mary T. Clark to make wall quilts. See below excerpts from artist statements with work represented in this exhibition. Look for the overlap!

 

Crop Rows is a series based on our rural landscape. It is born out of memories, conversations, and travel. The organic shapes are inspired by American Regionalism, specifically the work of Grant Wood. Paint creates the backdrop for each image. The pieces of fabric, maps, and photographs are carefully pieced together in collage, echoing the process of collage master artist Romare Bearden. Pattern exists in the curving crop rows, swirling clouds, and in the fabrics themselves. This piecing and pattern-making is essential to my creative process. It is time-consuming, layered, and connects me to my mom (a gifted quilter, knitter, and overall creative). These works can be viewed as paintings or wall-quilts.

 

Parables aims to visually retell biblical parables, such as the parable of The Sower. The work is based on short stories that explain a moral or religious principle. There is no magical wizard or talking horse. Rather, the symbolism is concrete and everyday. Parables using common landscape elements to tell uncommon truths resonate with me. One way I experience Father, Son and Holy Spirit is when in nature. Perhaps a twisting thornbush, a muted sky, or a thriving olive orchard can stir the soul.

 

FLOOD 08 represents the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The shapes echo those found in the FEMA “2008 Flood Inundation Area” map. The original site-specific piece was composed of over 3000 plastic drinking straws. The various shades of blue symbolize the Cedar River in its natural flowing watercourse. The opaque black describes the footprint of the floodwater during the historic flood of 2008.

 

Dictators & Dreamers investigates infamy, the ripple effects of power, human rights issues, and dreams of the (seemingly) common person. This body of work contrasts the faces of current or recent absolute rulers of countries around the world with the faces of immigrants, refugees, international students, and asylum seekers now residing in the Cedar Valley. The Dictator is infamous. Dreamers are often anonymous. Now, they hold equal attention.

Second Floor Gallery

Sept 26 - Nov 21, 2026

 

Exhibit Statement:

 

“The darker the world gets the more color I need in my life.”
- Nancy Bassett.

I paint to honor the extraordinary beauty hidden within ordinary moments. A shaft of light across a path, shadows dancing beneath trees, the subtle gesture of someone listening, these are the quiet gifts we often pass by in our hurry.

This collection includes plein air paintings, watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media work. Each piece begins with something that captures my attention that invites me to pause and look more deeply. I paint to record not only what I see, but also what I experience and feel in that moment. While the subjects and mediums vary, a spirit of delight runs through the entire collection, connecting each work and reflecting the joy I find in the beauty of everyday life. My hope is that these paintings invite you to linger, to notice, and to reconnect with a deeper sense of wonder. If they stir joy, awaken longing, or create a moment of shared recognition, then they have done their work. In that space of attention, perhaps we connect.

Bio
Leslie Leavenworth grew up in the southern culture of Virginia but since moving to Des Moines, has fallen in love with the beauty of the Iowa landscape and its people. She has a lifelong interest in painting, getting an early start by going with her father to paint watercolors on the docks of the James River. She has been a consistent student, taking classes whenever time permitted. Having retired now from school nursing and having raised her children, she is able to more fully engage her passion. You will find her in her studio or on location creating paintings of landscapes, people, still-life's and the occasional foray into abstracts. She is in pursuit of excellence in the craft
of painting, but also the more elusive quality that engages the viewer with a response to the experience. She is always reconciling her rich emotional interior landscape with the world she encounters. She paints best out of her joy, hoping that joy vibrates from her paintings to inspire others.

Leslie has won numerous regional awards, including Best in Show at the Iowa State Fair, the Hoyt Sherman Women’s Show, the Heritage Gallery and most recently the Iowa Watercolor Society, of which she is a Signature Member.
 

For more information, please visit

www.leslieleavenworth.com

West Gallery

January - December 30, 2027

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Curators Statement:

"Know thyself." The ancient words carved at Delphi remain one of humanity’s most enduring calls. Not a search for distant lands or treasures, but a voyage inward, into the labyrinth of consciousness. This exhibition, drawn from the museum’s collection, brings together works that reflect the timeless human quest for identity, authenticity, and purpose. It is a journey as old as humanity itself, told through myths and oral traditions, carried forward in poems and music, painted in symbols and abstractions, and reimagined across generations.

 

Art has always served as a threshold to self-understanding. It does not strike with certainty but invites reflection. Line, shape, color, rhythm, harmony, and contrast, the very elements and principles of art, become metaphors for the human condition: a line tracing the path of life, light and shadow mirroring the psyche’s dualities, harmony and dissonance echoing our inner struggles and resolutions. The processes of creation; layering, erasure, juxtaposition, repetition; enact the very work of becoming, revealing the unfinished nature of identity itself.

 

To know oneself is to wrestle with shadow and light, with the masks we present and the truths we conceal. Philosophers and psychologists remind us that the self is not fixed, but relational, formed in dialogue with others, with nature, and with the cosmos. Yet in the digital age, this pursuit of self-knowledge is increasingly shadowed by the algorithmic mirror. Digital systems   amplify our unacknowledged shadows, inflating fear, envy, and outrage, while curating fragile personae hungry for validation. What emerges is an “algorithmic self,” curated but hollow, driven by data yet disconnected from authenticity.

 

The objects gathered here resist such algorithmic reductions. They reclaim art as a vessel of  wisdom, insisting on the power of direct encounter with material, image, and form. In their presence, we are asked to pause, to reflect, and to listen to remember that wisdom begins not with endless consumption but with stillness, attention, and creativity. Out of silence and longing comes the declaration: “I am here”. This is not only a statement of existence but of connection, a reminder that to know oneself is to locate our being within a larger whole of humanity, nature, and the visible and invisible universe.

 

To know thyself is not a solitary act. It is a call to growth, humility, and integration, weaving together the intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual dimensions of being. It is an affirmation of authenticity and a return to love, hope, and truth. This exhibition invites you into that labyrinth, into a place of mirrors and shadows, of questions and revelations to confront the most enduring question of all time: Who are you? And perhaps, in the quiet between image and reflection, to find the courage to answer; “I am here.”

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