Photos by Richard Whittaker.

Over the years, artist Leigh Hyams’ subject matter has ranged from European megaliths and Mayan temples, Brazilian rain forests and Yosemite waterfalls, to giant images of imaginary flowers, Mexican folk art, dogs, and cows. Her work is distinguished by an edgy line quality, luminous color, and a passion for what frees us, makes us aware of a deeper reality, and brings us closer to the universe around us and the one inside ourselves.

Leigh's drawings, paintings, and artist’s books are in the permanent collections of the Achenbach Foundation in San Francisco's Legion of Honor Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California Art, Des Moines Art Center, Joslyn Art Museum, the Palácio Imperial (Curitiba, Brazil), and the University of California at Irvine, as well as private collections in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her museum exhibitions also include two solo shows at the Paco Imperial Center for Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro, and, in Mexico, twenty of her five to eight foot unstretched canvasses of huge imaginary flowers were installed together recently as “El Jardin de Redon” at El Museo de la Ciudad de Santiago Querétaro.

She is a Fulbright scholar, having received a Western European regional research grant for her extensive series of paintings based on Megalithic sites, as well as the recipient of ten painting fellowships, including Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the American Academy in Rome, and George Rickey's Hand Hollow Foundation. She served as Founding Executive Director of the Djerassi Resident Artists Project in Woodside, California.

She has worked as an Adjunct Professor of Art at San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, John F. Kennedy University, California College of Arts and Crafts, and University of California at Berkeley Extension. She has also taught art in mental institutions, Athabaskan Indian villages in Alaska, and at retreat centers, such as the Esalen Institute and La Serrania in Mallorca, Spain. For many years, she led international art tours for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Leigh now resides in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and periodically teaches art intensive workshops in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and South America.

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LEIGH HYAMS
leighhyams@artsreal.com
www.artsreal.com
Mexico: 011.52.415.154.6204

EDUCATION

NEW COLLEGE FINE ARTS INSTITUTE, Sarasota, Florida (studio monitor for Philip Guston)
MFA - UNIVERSITY of GUANAJUATO, Mexico
BFA - UNIVERSITY of NEBRASKA, Lincoln, Nebraska

PAINTING FELLOWSHIPS

1996 STRAEMUR ART KOMMUNE, Hafnarfjordur, Iceland
1995 HARAHORN, Hemsedal, Norway
1993 KAHUA RANCH, Kohala, Hawai
1990 SAN FRANCISCO-LENINGRAD ECOLOGICAL ARTS, Russia
1985 MACDOWELL COLONY, Peterborough, New Hampshire
1985 AMERICAN ACADEMY in ROME, Rome, Italy
1981 & 82 HAND HOLLOW FND. (George Rickey) Chatham, New York
1980 DJERASSI RESIDENT ARTISTS PROGRAM, Woodside, California
1979 OSSOBAW ISLAND PROJECT, Savannah, Georgia
1978 YADDO, Saratoga Springs, New York
1976 EDINBURGH ARTS/EUROPE, Edinburgh, Scotland

HONORS, GRANTS and PROJECT AWARDS

1997 JOHN F. KENNEDY UNIVERSITY, Berkeley, CA research grant
1992 ART IN AMERICA magazine: Painting-of-the-year slide series
1991 SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY, University Fdn. research grant
1990 SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY, Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award
1985 FULBRIGHT GRANT, Western Europe
1981 ALASKA COUNCIL for the ARTS, Aleutian & Arctic residencies
1977 CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL/FORT MASON FOUNDATION, Director, Nine County Art by Children Celebration
1975-76 FLORIDA FINE ARTS COMMISSION, Art with hospitalized patients in State Mental Hospital, Arcadia, Florida
1973 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT for the ARTS, Development of RINGLING MUSEUM of ART traveling art caravan
1970-75 RINGLING MUSEUM of ART, Sarasota, Florida, Education Department special events director: Happenings, Artists’ Theater Events

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2009 EL MUSEO de la CIUDAD de SANTIAGO QUERÉTARO, Querétaro, Mexico
2008 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
2006 EL MUSEO de la CIUDAD de SANTIAGO QUERÉTARO, Querétaro, Mexico
2006 GENERATOR GALLERY, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2005 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
2003 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
2000 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
1999 BAYFRONT GALLERY, San Francisco
1999 OAKLAND MUSEUM of ART, Oakland, CA
1997 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
1996 PACO IMPERIAL, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1995 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
1994 PACO IMPERIAL, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1993 TERESA MULLEN GALLERY, San Francisco
1992 MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco
1992 SOMAR GALLERY, San Francisco
1991 JOHN F. KENNEDY UNIVERSITY, Berkeley, CA.
1987 ANNE JAFFE GALLERY, Miami, Florida
1985 BLUXOME GALLERY, San Francisco
1982 OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE, Los Angeles, CA.
1980 SOUTHERN EXPOSURE GALLERY, San Francisco
1978 L.Y.C. MUSEUM, Brampton, Cumbria, U.K.
1977 RICHARD DEMARCO GALLERY, Edinburgh, Scotland
1975 RINGLING MUSEUM of ART, Sarasota, Florida
1973 JOSLYN ART MUSEUM, Omaha, Nebraska

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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2006 ATLASIDES GALLERY, Marrakech, Morocco (Fulbright Scholars Invitational)
2005 SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART, San Jose CA.
2003 LEGION OF HONOR MUSEUM, San Francisco
1999 ARTEUM, San Jose, Costa Rica
1994 MUSEU DE ARTE MODERNA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil
1994 YERBA BUENA CENTER for the ARTS, San Francisco
1992 GHIA GALLERY, San Francisco
1992 BI-STAGE GALLERY, Utsunomiya, Japan
1990 GALLERAYA 1010, Leningrad, Russia
1990 EAST-WEST CENTER, Honolulu, Hawaii (Fulbright scholars)
1989 CROCKER ART MUSEUM, Sacramento, CA
1988 SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION GALLERY
1988 GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, Washington, DC
1986 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, DC
1984 WOMEN’S BUILDING, Los Angeles, CA
1983 SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE
1981 SAN FRANCISCO/BERLIN Exchange Show, Germany
1978 GULBENKIAN GALLERY, Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines, Iowa
GOVERNMENT PALACE, Curitiba, Brazil
JOSLYN ART MUSEUM, Omaha, Nebraska
LEGION of HONOR MUSEUM, Achenbach Collection, San Francisco
NEW COLLEGE, Sarasota, Florida
OAKLAND MUSEUM of ART, Oakland, CA
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE, Omaha, Nebraska
SAN JOSE MUSEUM of ART, San Jose, California
SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY, San Jose, California
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, Irvine, California

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rohan, Theres, CATALOGUE ESSAY, The Ancient Presence, MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco, 2008

Horner, Gabriel Garcia, CATALOGUE ESSAY, El Jardin de Redon, MUSEO de la CUIDAD de SANTIAGO QUERÉTARO, Querétaro, Mexico, 2006

Brodzky, Anne, CATALOGUE ESSAY, Redon’s Garden, MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco, 2005

Rohan, Theres CATALOGUE ESSAY, Redon’s Garden, MERIDIAN GALLERY, San Francisco, 2005

A Conversation With Leigh Hyams, "This Incredible Fact of Being Alive", WORKS & CONVERSATIONS No. 12, 2006

Webster, Mary Hull, Leigh Hyams at Meridian Gallery ART WEEK, Feb. 2004

Selz,Peter, Charles Miedzinski and Anne Brodzky, brochure essays for
Does the Dark have a Door?, PACO IMPERIAL, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1996

Cebulski, Frank, Leigh Hyams at Meridian, SAN FRANCISCO ART GUIDE, Jan. 1995

Roche, Harry, Critic’s Choice, SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN, Feb. 1995

Brodzky, Anne Trueblood, CATALOGUE ESSAY, The Exchange Show,
San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1994

Rohan, Theres, On Landscape and Spirit - Leigh Hyams’ Path,
detail: A JOURNAL OF ART CRITICISM, 1994

Morris, Gay, Leigh Hyams at Meridian , ART IN AMERICA, June 1992

Brzezinski, Jamey, Leigh Hyams - Brazilian Forests, ART WEEK, May 1992

Baker, Kenneth, Brazil Observed - Landscapes by Leigh Hyams
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, January 1992

Ahlander, Leslie Judd, Monolithic Stelae Paintings by Leigh Hyams
MIAMI NEWS, April 1987

Rosen, Jim, Nothing Unreal Survives: Leigh Hyams Megalithic Paintings, CORONA MAGAZINE, May 1986

Liss, Andrea, Content as Metaphor, ART WEEK, 1985

VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES

“A Conversation with Leigh Hyams and Richard Whittaker” Richard Whittaker, San Francisco, 2009

“Making Marks: On the Excitement and Importance of Making Art”
  On The Verge Productions, San Francisco, 2000

“The Launch” Lisa Lu, San Francisco, 2000

“Duos With Dave” Manana Media, San Francisco, 1996

 

OTHER

Founding Director, DJERASSI RESIDENT ARTISTS PROJECT, Woodside, California, 1980 - 1983

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"Gracias a Gina Hyams y Kris Bolling." — Leigh