Arts Directory

About

Artist Bio

Alicia Leeke, a native South Carolinian, started out at Columbia College as a pre-veterinary major studying biology with Dr. Phillip E. Graef, Department Head of Biological Sciences. Other instructors that helped transform her art career at the college include: French Professor Dr. Josette Young and Steven Nevitt Professor of art history, drawing and painting.

During her sophomore year, she traveled to France as part of the summer abroad program with other classmates. There, she visited the Louvre, The Orsay (her favorite), The Centre Pompidou, the quaint and bustling area of Montmartre, the Jacques Cousteau Museum as well as Chanel’s personal apartment in Paris.

It was in France where her creative spark was ignited after seeing the works of the French Salon painters and how they captured history, social conscience, and architecture by painting the people and environments surrounding them.

Alicia Leeke is a South Carolina based painter incorporating research-related imagery into her artwork. Originally a biology major and former graphic designer, she uses digital technology to blend her passions of art and science.

Her colorful, abstract murals also tie together her passion for biology and art – and serve as a wonderful memory for community members.

Her evolution from painting to new media pushes the boundaries of her work event further.

More recently, she is inspired by photographers Susan Kae Grant of Texas and John E. Powell of Columbia, SC to produce a body of work combining conceptual art, photography, and digital mixed media. Leeke compares a series of art in a body of work to that of multiple product lines in sales. This means she has a painting produced in a series over time including: abstract textural landscapes, impressionistic landscapes, French cityscapes, digital mixed media cityscapes, vibrant abstracts and an abstract body of work based on phytoplankton.

Leeke was awarded grants by the Joan Mitchell Foundation in New York City; the South Carolina Arts Commission; and a grant by the Charleston Scientific and Cultural Education Fund to produce a traveling exhibition entitled: View From Under the Microscope: Science-based Learning Through Art. The exhibition educates the non-scientific community about the importance plankton play in our life and why we need to be good stewards of our water bodies.

She is an international, award-winning artist whose work is collected around the globe from New York City and Finland to Austria and Dubai.

Artist Statement

My creativity is inspired by the French Salon painters and how they captured history, social conscience and architecture by painting the people and environments surrounding them. My travels to paint landscapes during my plein-air painting sessions led me to produce a body of beautiful impressionistic works of art inspired by nature’s ever-changing scenery and familiar places.

My work incorporates graphic design, photography and other digital programs to create original works of art and educational classes that incorporate science, art history and current events in my body of work. I also have other bodies of work that focus on traditional media including: watercolor, acrylics, collage, pastels, ink, and found objects, to create 2D, 3D works of art and murals.

I am best known for my brightly painted public art projects that range from temporary murals to permanent installations including commissions of painted trout and turtles as well as larger mural formats around Columbia, South Carolina. My process starts with a conversation about the project, brainstorming and idea generation and mock ups using technology, architectural grade paints and sometimes mural cloth or canvas installs.

Mural and project inspiration is usually site-specific and varies based on the needs of the project. Often a public art project needs to blend into the facility, make a bold impact statement or portray a theme. Some of the themes in my work include nature, people and animals.

For the Under the Microscope body of work, I collected water samples to find animal and plant plankton in water bodies in Darrell Creek in Mount Pleasant, the Atlantic Ocean on the Isle of Palms, Swan Lake in Sumter, Quinine Hill Lake in Columbia, the Wateree River, Congaree Swamp, Coosawhatchie River in Beaufort and the A.C. Moore Garden pond on the University of South Carolina campus. I studied under Dr. Tammi Richardson at the University of South Carolina Department Biological Sciences to identify and photograph samples with an electron microscope. Back in my studio, I incorporate the microscopy, painting and photography to media to create contemporary works of art that educate the public about the effects of climate change on the food web.

Each year I attend personal and professional development conferences and training to learn new skills so that I can offer a wider variety of classes to students. My personal development classes include dyeing, woodworking, sculpture and ceramics.

All of my work, regardless of the format, digs deep into the natural world by amplifying the shapes found in nature through color, movement and line.