By Margaret Splane | Birmingham Public Library
The Central Library downtown is hosting artist Leanna Leithauser-Lesley’s stunning new exhibition, Shaken by the Roots. The show is a retrospective of Leithauser-Lesley’s needlepoint portraits of jazz and blues musicians, spanning from the start of her career in the early 2000s to the present.
Shaken by the Roots is on display in BPL’s First Floor Gallery through September 27. A reception for the artist will take place on Saturday, September 14, in the Central Library’s Fourth Floor Gallery from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
Leithauser-Lesley describes herself as “an avid needlepointer motivated by the power of jazz music.” Among Leithauser-Lesley’s subjects are influential, internationally known jazz artists Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Thelonius Monk, Jelly Roll Morton, Django Reinhart, Mary Lou Williams, and Lester Young. Others are jazz and blues artists from right here in Birmingham, including Bo Berry, Henry “Gip” Gipson (depicted in No Blacks, No White, Just Blues below), Elaine Hudson, Elnora Spencer, and Dinah Washington (depicted in Queen of the Blues above).
Leithauser-Lesley’s needlepoint portraits are presented in unique antique and vintage frames, while vinyl records serve as frames for her smaller, circular portraits. Some of the needlepoint portraits are incorporated into what the artist refers to as mixed-media “story quilts.”
The needlepoint portrait of world-renowned Nina Simone is showcased in a “story quilt” called Ne Me Quitte Pas. Simone was a jazz and blues vocalist, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. She sang a version of the Jacques Brel song “Ne me quitte pas” on her 1965 album You Put a Spell on Me, and it has become one of her best-loved recordings.
In Leithauser-Lesley’s eponymous work, the title of the “story quilt” and Simone’s head and torso are rendered in needlepoint, while other figurative components consist of embroidered and pieced-together fabrics. A piano keyboard is depicted in what appears to be white leather and black fabric. Parts of Ne Me Quitte Pas are embellished with spools of thread, twine, and yarn, as well as with painted twigs. Many images in the work are associated with Simone’s social activism.
All the works in Shaken by the Roots are for sale (except for one that comes from a private collection). The artist receives 100% of all sales but may make a contribution to the Friends Foundation of the Birmingham Public Library to support the Art for Everyone exhibition series.
Learn more about Leithauser-Lesley at www.needlepointfaces.com or on Instagram @theneedlepointwarrior.
Shaken by the Roots is made possible by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts awarded to the Friends Foundation of the Birmingham Public Library.
