Leonie Wood: Life Lines

Leonie Wood: LIFE LINES

List of Works Flight of Fancy 2012, Ige Sumi ink and watercolour pencil on paper, framed, 76 x 56 cm. Collection of Bernadette Howlett Just Peachy 2020, mixed media on paper, framed, 80 x 72 cm Leonie & Rick Wood, Enrapt 2005, decorated stoneware, 55 x 38 cm. Collection of Judi Wynne Leonie & Rick Wood, Foreign Bodies 2007, decorated stoneware, 60 x 38 cm Left Alone 2019, artist pen on paper, framed, 44.5 x 34.3 cm Leonie & Rick Wood, Melancholia 2008, decorated stoneware, 22 x 24.5 cm Melancholia 2008, decorated stoneware, 22 x 24.5 cm Melancholia 1 2008, drypoint etching, framed, 30.5 x 34.5 cm. Collection of Melissa Broadhurst Muser 2020, mixed media on paper, framed, 55 x 90 cm Nude Study 1 1995, pencil and watercolour on paper, 79 x 56 cm Nude Study 2 1995, pencil on paper, 84 x 57.5 cm Nude Study 3 2017, mixed media on paper, 84.5 x 56.5 cm Nude Study 4 2020, mixed media on paper, 75 x 52 cm Nude Study 5 1995, pencil on paper, 79 x 50 cm Repose 2020, artist pen on paper, framed, 50 x 41 cm. Collection of Lauren Turton Unravelled 2012, Sumi ink and watercolour pencil on paper, framed, 70 x 56 cm. Collection of Rob Wingrove Up the Wall 2019, charcoal on paper, framed, 88.5 x 57 cm

Leonie & Rick Wood, Foreign Bodies 2007, decorated stoneware, 60 x 38 cm

Flight of Fancy 2012, Ige Sumi ink and watercolour pencil on paper, framed, 76 x 56 cm. Collection of Bernadette Howlett

Nude Study 4 2020, mixed media on paper, 75 x 52 cm

Leonie Wood: LIFE LINES

Publisher Perc Tucker Regional Gallery Townsville City Council PO Box 1268 Townsville City, Queensland, 4810 galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au ©Galleries, Townsville City Council, and respective artists and authors, 2020 ISBN 978-0-949461-44-5 Published on the occasion of the exhibition Life Lines

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery 27 November 2020 – 7 February 2021 The female form has long been portrayed and represented in various art forms throughout history; a staple muse, traditionally curated through the lens of the clouded and objectifying male gaze, often in an overtly vulnerable or sexualised manner.

Mackay based artist Leonie Wood’s dedication to illustrating the female figure in a natural and honest light, surpasses this idealised male dominated barrier; reframing, recontextualising, and empowering this tired and troped representation in art. When portrayed through the nuanced empathetic female gaze, a woman’s body is uniquely determined, exuding an authentic, sensual energy that comes as a welcomed breath of fresh air.

Wood draws heavily on her relationship with the curvilinear line of the contoured female form, showcasing works that skilfully weave the contrasting strength and softness of the feminine spirit. Wood’s life drawings in ink, pen, charcoal, and graphite, and her hand drawn imagery on ceramics, produced in collaboration with her late husband, renowned North Queensland ceramicist, Rick Wood, perfectly illustrate her ability to harness this dynamic and frenetic Leonie & Rick Wood, Enrapt 2005, decorated stoneware, 55 x 38 cm. Collection of Judi Wynne

force.

It was in the 1990s that Wood requested from her husband ‘walls of clay as a canvas’ for her life drawings, resulting in a successful collaborative process which they continued for many years. Their first collaborative exhibition was in 1993, titled, By-Association, at Central Gallery in Mackay, and the duo showed again in 2001, in a joint exhibition at Mackay’s Conservatorium on Music, titled, In the Arms of Morpheus. They also undertook several major public art commissions, including the Mackay Entertainment Centre, North Mackay City Library, and the Art Built-In Commission for the four new Court Rooms of the Mackay Courthouse Redevelopment, 2003-4.

Artist Leonie Wood Publication and Design Development Nicole Thompson and Carly Sheil Contributing Author

Lucy Belle Tesoriero Artwork documentation Through The Looking Glass Studios Townsville City Galleries Acknowledgement of Country Townsville City Council acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Townsville – the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun; and Bindal people. We pay our respects to their cultures, their ancestors and their Elders – past and present – and all future generations

Wood currently facilitates and participates in weekly community life drawing classes in Mackay, and in doing so, has prolifically accumulated hundreds of works on paper. Wood’s dedication to her own artistic studies, as well as her passion for artistic patronage, is inspiring. Her arts practice, especially her collaborative ceramic work, is ultimately overdue for recognition, and it is from this exhibition that I hope she receives.

Image front cover: Repose 2020, artist pen on paper, framed, 50 x 41 cm. Collection of Lauren Turton

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery Cnr Denham and Flinders St Townsville QLD 4810 Tue - Fri 10am – 3pm Sun 10am – 1pm

Lucy Belle Tesoriero

Left Alone 2019, artist pen on paper, framed, 44.5 x 34.3 cm

Nude Study 3 2017, mixed media on paper, 84.5 x 56.5 cm

(07) 4727 9011 galleries@townsville.qld.gov.au whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au Townsville City Galleries TownsvilleCityGalleries