Member Biography

Donna Leavitt Photo


ARTIST STATEMENT

Making art is having a contract with an idea...
Drawing, to me, is a meditative experience where I enter a world of calm reflection and interpretation....Sometimes (often) the result is a surprise!"

Graphite Work:
Like many people in this part of the country I have a great affinity for trees and the out of doors. I like to take a non-traditional look by bringing the viewer's focus up close to examine shadows and textures for an intimate visual experience. My choice of introduced negative space is a deliberate visual interruption to keep the drawing from becoming too photographic.

Colored Pencil Work:
Here I enjoy another artistic continuum--the traditional still-life format. I am very interested in other cultures and the objects that symbolize their ethnicity. Because I have a collection of various folk artifacts, these become my personal signature and are often used repeatedly to make visual statements about diversity. With the use of negative space and careful composition, the drawings are brought into a contemporary format.

Currently I am at work on a series of colored pencil drawings of stones These silent witnesses of the earth's doings intrique me and I am enjoying exploring their shapes and wonderful colors. As with most of my work, I take a close up view in order to bring focus on the immediate - a segment of the landscape, if you will....

ART EXPERIENCE

I have worked in the fields of commercial art and fine arts since graduation from California College of Arts and Crafts in the 1960's. While living and raising our family in San Diego, I owned and directed a regional cooperative gallery, Spectrum, for eight years. It featured over 35 artists from the San Diego region working in all media and crafts. Since returning to the NW in 1985, I have concentrated on studio work.

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2005

  • Explore This! 3, Colored Pencil Society of America, La Jolla Art Association Gallery, La Jolla, CA
  • An Enduring Legacy: Women Painters of Washington, 1930-2005, Whatcom Museum of History & Art, Bellingham, WA

2004

  • Three person exhibit, Olympic Community College, Bremerton, WA 2003

2003

  • WPW Juried Shows, University House, Wallingford & Issaquah
  • Edmonds Arts Festival 1999-2003
  • Puget Sound Country, juried show, Seattle

2002

  • Leavitt & Leavitt, Edmonds Community College
  • NW Color II, hon. mention, WA State Trade & Convention Center, Seattle
  • Mercer Island Gallery, Leavitt & Leavitt, Memorial Exhibit for husband, Dan
  • Edmonds Art Festival, Award: Honorable Mention
  • CPSA 10th International Exhibition, Ft. Worth, TX
  • Puget Sound Country, Juried Show, Seattle

2001

  • Mercer Island Gallery, WPW Juried Show Award: 3rd Place
  • Solo Show, Edmonds Arts Festival Museum Gallery
  • "Epic Passages," Juried Show, WPW & PSGNWP, Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle
  • CPSA 9th International Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
  • WPW Membership Show, Sidney Arts Gallery, Pt. Orchard
  • WPW Juried Show, Roby King Gallery, Pt. Ludlow, Award of Excellence

2000

  • "Gateway" WPW Show, Main Terminal, SeaTac Airport
  • WPW 70th Anniversary Membership Show, Edmonds Community College
  • Edmonds Arts Festival, Juried Show
  • "Millennium Images" WA State Trade & Convention Center, WPW Juried Show. Award: Best in Show

1999

  • "Millennium Images" Ahmed Al Adway Gallery, Kuwait City, Kuwait

1998

  • CPSA 6th International Exhibition, Arlington, VA
  • WPW Holiday Show, Everett, WA. Award: Best in Show

 

 

Donna Leavitt
Edmonds, WA
haavitt@w-link.net

 



Mountain Ash
"Mountain Ash" – graphite
18 x 22"

 

Italian Vase
"Italian Vase" - colored pencil
23 x 23"

 

The Quiet
"The Quiet" - colored pencil/collage
18 x 24"

 

 

Garden of Eden
"Garden of Eden" – colored pencil/ graphite
23 x 23"

 

 

Altar Piece of Erythrina
"Altar Piece of Erythrina"
graphite - 40 x 22"

 

 

Meditation
"Meditation" - colored pencil/collage


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