Courtney M. Leonard facts for kids

Courtney M. Leonard (born in 1980) is a talented artist, filmmaker, and activist from the Shinnecock Nation in Long Island, New York. Her art often explores important ideas about nature and what it means to be Native American, especially focusing on water. Water is super important to the Shinnecock people. Courtney mainly uses clay in her art, and her ceramic pieces are inspired by the Shinnecock Nation's history with whaling and coastal life. She's part of a movement called the Offshore Art Movement and is well-known for her project, BREACH, which is all about protecting our environment.

About Courtney Leonard

Courtney Leonard was born in 1980 in Long Island, New York. She is a member of the Shinnecock Nation, an Native American community that has lived by the ocean for a very long time. Their history is deeply connected to fishing and whaling. Courtney's early life and her identity were greatly shaped by the Shinnecock community's coastal way of life.

In 2014, Leonard started a big art project called BREACH. This project uses different types of art to explore the many meanings of the word "breach." It also looks at how these meanings connect to her life as a Shinnecock Nation member. Through her art, she asks people an important question: "Can a culture survive if it no longer has access to the environment that helped create it?"

In 2024, some of her artwork was shown in an exhibition called The New Transcendence. This was at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York.

Courtney Leonard currently lives in Northfield, Minnesota.

Her Education

Courtney M. Leonard studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She earned her associate's degree in art and museum studies in 2000. Two years later, she got her bachelor's degree from Alfred University's NY College of Ceramics. Leonard then received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008.

Her Artworks

Courtney Leonard has been working with clay since she was a little girl. She truly understood her connection to clay in high school. Since then, she has used her ceramic artwork to focus on issues facing the Shinnecock community. These issues often involve the ocean environment and how to keep it healthy for the future.

Artifice, from the BREACH series.

Featured Art Pieces

• Artifice (2016): This sculpture is made of micaceous clay with a glaze. It's a hollow, medium-sized oval with holes all over it. The artwork looks like man-made structures that are placed in the ocean to create new habitats for sea life.
• BREACH #2 (2016): This piece features different whale teeth made from clay. They are piled on a wooden pallet.
• SEWA SIS (2017): This is a mixed media painting on canvas. It shows a portrait of a young woman from the Shinnecock Nation. She is wearing traditional Shinnecock clothes and ivory jewelry.

Art Exhibitions

Courtney Leonard's artwork has been shown in many places around the world.

Solo Shows

She has had several solo exhibitions, meaning her work was the main focus. Many of these shows were part of her BREACH project, with titles like:

• BREACH: LOG 2014 (2014) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
• BREACH: LOG 2016 (2016) in Tempe, Arizona.
• BREACH: LOG 2018 - “EUPHOTIC” (2018) in Denver, Colorado.

Group Shows

Her art has also been featured in many group exhibitions, where her work is shown alongside other artists. Some notable ones include:

• Counting Coup (2011) at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
• Changing Hands: 3 (2014) at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.
• Radical Seafaring (2016) at the Parish Art Museum in Southampton, New York.
• The New Transcendence (2024) at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York.

Art in Collections

Courtney Leonard's artwork is part of the permanent collections of many important museums and institutions. This means her art is owned by these places and can be displayed for people to see for a long time. Some of these include:

• The American Museum of Ceramic Art in California.
• The Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles.
• The Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramic Research Center.
• The Denver Art Museum in Colorado.
• The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.
• The Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
• The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York.
• The Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center & Museum in New York.

Awards and Honors

Courtney Leonard has received many awards and special opportunities from different organizations. These include support from The Andy Warhol Foundation and The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. In 2018, she was honored with the National Artist Fellowship from The Native Arts and Culture Foundation.