Diane Leon

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All PostsStoriesTextTextoYoung @ ArtNewsletter#VideoBocetoFellow ArtistsFranckMay 1, 201714 min readFellow Artist: Diane Leon, Creating the life she wants

I  had the pleasure of meeting Diane at the taping of a documentary on  abstract artists in which we both were featured. Since then we’ve been  in touch and always following each other’s work and creative process.  She’s a friend, a mentor who champions creativity and as you’re about to  find out, a brilliant and wise artist with quite a colorful life.

How long have you been painting?

I have always created art from my  childhood growing up in New York City. When I was in my early teens, I  saw a Van Gogh exhibition with my father at the Guggenheim Museum. As we  walked home along Fifth Avenue I felt drained and overwhelmed. When I  started to think about the paintings, it hit me. Van Gogh’s brushwork  and colors affected me emotionally. It was then that I realized art  would always be a part of my life.

When did you become aware that you were an artist?

At  the age of 17, I received what I wanted most for my high school  graduation gift. A box of oil paints, brushes and a couple of canvas  boards. In high school they had an art class, but because I needed other  courses to graduate I was not permitted to register for the oil  painting class. I knew then I would teach myself how to paint and never  let any person stop me from creating.

What was it like working in the music industry, how did you get there and did you promote or sell your work?

I  have always been very independent. In 1964 I was 18 years old, and told  my parents I was going to be an artist. I moved out of their apartment  and got a studio apt in NYC. I also had a dog and cat to keep me  company. I began to work in the music industry because to me it made the  office job bearable. It was a better fit for me. I was lucky to have  good secretarial skills, (shorthand and typing) which was what you  needed at that time. I began at the American Guild of Variety Artists  (AGVA) on Broadway in NYC in the legal immigration department. I worked  with lawyers and assisted in preparing the visas for the Beatles and  Rolling Stones to come to America. When I watched the Beatles perform on  the Ed Sullivan Show I was so excited to know I was a part of that  event happening. My boss also gave me free tickets to take my sisters  and cousins to see them at Shea Stadium in 1966. During this period I  showed people at work my art and did commissions. I was so thrilled to  paint images of cats, dogs, flowers, their homes, still life and  landscapes. In 1969 I had my first exhibition at the Harlem Theatre Arts  Building and sold my first landscape at a show. It was a great feeling.  I continued to work in the music industry and moved on to booking  agencies that handled all the top rock ’n’ roll icons we look back upon  today. As a secretary/administrative assistant I handled all the  correspondence, and keeping track of all the gigs, accounting, and  schedules of the acts. We booked the original Woodstock in 1969, and  rock artists such as, Kiss, Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Joe  Cocker, Deep Purple, etc. I also worked and sold my paintings at  booking agency that handled all the great soul artists of that time:  Aretha Franklin, Erma Franklin and Carolyn Franklin, Wilson Picket, The  Staple Singers, Graham Central Station, The Dells, The Delfonics, Earth,  Wind and Fire, Teddy Pendergrass, etc. Some of those arts sales paid my  way to Europe. The last job I had in the industry was Arista Records.  Clive Davis was the founder and president. I worked with his vice  president and directly with him when his assistant was on vacation or  away from her desk. I had slides in my desk draw and anytime people came  up I showed them my work. I also invited everyone to all the  exhibitions I had and sold a lot of work. Arista Records was a great  place to work. Mr. Davis had an Arista anniversary party at the famous  Studio 54. All the pop icons were there and being young at that time  made it easy to dance all night and still get to work the next day.

At  that time my painting style was realistic and I painted landscapes. I  sold a lot of work in oils, pastels and watercolors. Spain has been a  passion of mine since 1970 when I bought a place on the Costa Blanca  region. I organized an exhibition and with the work I sold I made enough  to put down a deposit. I knew when I made that commitment I would  always have to work a full time job, unless I was lucky enough to earn  enough from my art. By the mid 1970s I could no longer afford to live in  Manhattan and moved to Queens. I enrolled at The Art Students League and  studied there from 1974–78. I worked right across the street, so it was  perfect. All day with the of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll characters  and from 7–9pm art classes Monday — Thursday and on Friday nights  drawing from the model again. It was in 1978, I met my artist husband, John Ferdico.  He was in the studio across the hall from me. We dated for a year and  in 1979 we got married. We have shared our life and art ever since. My  years at the League gave me a solid foundation in basic skills, drawing,  painting the figure, glazing, composition that I still use in my  abstract work.

When did abstraction pull you in?

Around  the mid-1980s I got frustrated with doing my landscapes. I needed a  change and decided to go for it and do abstract art. I wanted freedom  and have never looked back. Nature is still my primary inspiration, but  with abstract art I can use color, palette knife and paint in the  moment. When I start a canvas or panel I have no idea where it will go.  It comes to life when I begin to compose with color and form. I like  using a lot of layering and with acrylic paint it allows me to make the  changes I want. My abstract paintings represent memory, and feelings;  and have an internal spiritual release for me. I paint almost every  night and no matter what else is happening in my life working in the  studio is a release for me. Even if I paint for three hours and am  disappointed with what I have done, I scrap paint off and start again or  just keep working until I resolve that painting. It is all about what I  feel at that time. It is an emotional experience for me, not  intellectual. Color, texture and form dominate my work. I also prefer  working in a small scale. It allows me to work on 2–3 paintings at one  time. Also, all my life we have never had a car so painting in an  intimate scale made it possible to carry works on the subway, etc. When  John and I had were represented in a NYC gallery in the 1990s we used to  rent a van and pack up all our work. But, now I prefer to do online  juried shows. We have exhibited in Spain; we have work in a gallery in  Herefordshire, England called Studio 54. We also have had exhibitions  through the Arts in Embassies Program, and was featured in local Queens  Courier newspaper article by Marianne Nash, “Queens Artists Work Hang in  U.S. Embassies, 2008, In 2009 I was included in The New York Times  article, Tight Times Loosen Creativity,  by Robin Pogrebin with a photo of myself with a painting by Katie  Orlinsky. I received a Special Recognition Award in the online  international juried show, “Light, Space and Time,” March 2017, for my  abstract work on paper, “Rapture.”

Can you learn from teaching art?

Yes,  I have been teaching at New York University, School of Professional  Studies, liberal arts degree division since 1995 as an adjunct associate  professor of arts. I returned to school in 1986 at 41 years old to get  my BA in art history. I also was able to study color viscosity  printmaking at the Steinhardt School at NYU and loved it .I then applied  to NYU, Graduate School of Arts and Science to work towards a MA in  Humanities and Social Thought. I went the academic route because of all  the years of basic studio art I already had. I am inspired by my  students. I teach only spring semester and my courses are Fundamentals  of Painting and Design and alternates with Collage and Mixed Media. Most  of my students are not art majors so for many it is a new experience or  they have been painting since high school and now want to rekindle  their love for painting or collage again. I learn from seeing their  enthusiasm. Knowing they can create a work of art and learn the  fundamentals inspires me. There is satisfaction in watching them in the  creative process and seeing how it develops before your eyes. I am a  very positive person and I try to bring out the best in them.

Do changes in seasons and landscape affect or change your work?

Yes,  it does. My strongest works seem to be created from late October to  June. During that time I love to spend each night painting. By the time  late spring comes around I want to spend more time outside and in  nature. The summer is traveling around, in NYC and abroad. Years ago  John and I used to rent a car, go camping in upstate NY or Pennsylvania,  take our art supplies and paint outside. When we travel abroad, we keep  supplies in our apartment in Spain. I am always overwhelmed by the  beauty of the Mediterranean, mountains, towns, culture, etc. that when I  travel I can only do sketch book work or really small works. For some  reason it is a spiritual experience and I call it my ‘sitting and  staring” time. Just to be in a place like that fills my soul. I need  that and that’s why I when I am back in NYC I internalize all the  natural beauty. Only then can I start my painting schedule again. In the  hot summer I just want to have a gin and tonic, sit under the umbrella  by the sea and enjoy the air, watch the waves roll in, and let all my  senses absorb what’s around me. In the early fall in NYC I love to enjoy  the weather. The elements in nature nourish me in a way to prepare for  the oncoming winter.

How big of a role does spirituality play in your art?

For  me it is an important role because of my love and admiration for  nature. Each day I wake up I thank God for a new day. I love to see the  sky, clouds and the trees in the backyard of my building. We have a lot  of plants and I am so attached to them. I feel so connected to  everything. I was raised a Catholic, but consider myself more of a  spiritual person than someone who lives by rules of the church. Painting  is a spiritual ritual. It’s one of the only times I can stay so in the  moment for hours! As with all artists when you work, that’s all you  think about. It is meditative because you really aren’t thinking, at  least the way I work. The time stands still because I may think about  what colors to put on my palette but in 5 minutes I change it, cover it  up and another part of me moves the painting in a completely new  direction that did not involve thinking about it. Part of each painting  is done on its own. I just make the motions and it seems to paint  itself. All artists do that. That’s the beautiful part of the creative  process.

Does sharing studio space with your artist/husband pose a challenge at times?

The  biggest problem we have is for the past 37 years of never having the  luxury of large enough space. Fortunately, we paint at different times.  John prefers the day and I have always loved the night. The room that we  use as a studio is a small bedroom. John has done some large works and I  rework canvases to save the space. It would be impossible to live with  all the decades of work we have created. Recently a collector of ours  bought a large number of works from us and that made some room. We both  held down the full time non art jobs to pay bills, etc. Finally, for me  in 2011 I retired from my day job at NYU as a budget administrator. It  was a good job, the faculty and students were great. I keep in touch  with everyone. I was able to sell a lot of work. My office was filled  with my art and it was like a gallery!! I balanced the day job, wrote  and published personal essays, exhibited my work, completed school, and  taught art after work. Now I continue teaching, and mentoring as a way  of giving back. I love being able to work as late as I want in the  studio. No longer hate Sunday nights because I have paid my dues and  love it!!! When I meet and mentor the graduates from Tisch School of the  Arts via the Tisch Industry Network I speak with writers, producers,  actors, directors, etc. I let them know that the decisions they make are  so important because they can affect the rest of your life. In the arts  you need stamina and commitment. You need to realize you have to pay  the bills and do what you have to in order to realize your dreams. Be  thankful for each day and when things don’t go well; remember “this too  shall pass.” Learn to compromise, but make it work in your favor.  Whether you are in a small apt and wish you had the space to paint,  don’t stop working because you have to paint on the kitchen table (which  I did when I lived in a studio apt when I was young) or for the past 37  years share a space with John. Don’t let anything stop you from  working.

In a world saturated with imagery can the artist still influence or affect culture?

Yes,  an artist can influence and affect culture. Look how music did that  when I started working in the music industry. It was later called the  Cultural Revolution. In art there have been so many styles and  movements. As an artist today, we have so many more opportunities to  reinvent how we want to express ourselves. In 1992 I had a solo show at  LaGuardia Community College in Queens. The work was a series of 17  collages based on what I had seen in Spain after Franco died in 1975. My  personal work may not have changed anything in society, but the Spanish  culture affect and changed my work. The collage series was called  “Post-Franco Spain: A Cultural Transformation.” I reflected back on my  own observations and experiences since 1970 and in the 1992 exhibition  it gave me the opportunity to delve into another culture and how women  were viewed and changed. I wrote a personal essay on my experience in  how and why I bought my place in Spain and it was published in  Hercirclezine online. I ended up being an arts editor and wrote featured  articles about other feminist women artists from 2005–2007 for  Hercirclezine. The world around you affects how you live and perceive  yourself. What you write or paint is out there and people are then  affected by how you see and view the world. It works both ways. We never  create in a vacuum. I think art will always affect culture because we  absorb things from our environment in so many ways. As artists it has to  be expressed and everything makes us more aware of the world around us  in our own vision.

What was your worst art exhibit experience?

My  experience is not a horror story, but one of miscommunication. The  worst art exhibit experience still stays in my memory. It was decades  ago at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. It was a large  exhibition of watercolor paintings. I had never received notice of a  rejection or acceptance. These were the days before computers, cell  phone or texts. Finally on the day of the opening I phoned again and  they still could not give me an answer. They advised I just come to the  show and maybe I would see my work. I asked if they could see if my name  was on the brochure and they couldn’t do that. So, I figured why not,  let me look and hopefully be surprised and see my landscape watercolor  hanging and enjoy the show. If not someone could hand me my painting  back. Well, I walked in and the place was packed. I slowly looked at the  show and my painting was not hung. I quietly walked over to some woman  who was at a desk and explained my situation and she stands up and  yelled across the entire room, so loud it silenced the entire room; and  said to another person , “Can you find the rejected painting for Diane  Leon, she’s here to pick it up” That rude bitch!! I was so humiliated  the look I gave her I am sure she will never forget. I controlled myself  because I am not a shy person and have no problem telling anyone o