MARGARET ELLIOTT LEEPER
Born in Alabama, art has always been part of her life and family. Some of her earliest memories are of trips to Atlanta to visit an uncle, who she recalls “had a vast collection of contemporary art that dominated his crisp painted walls; I was fascinated by the artwork and enchanted by his travels across the world buying art to sell through his Atlanta based gallery. My parents too, have always been art enthusiasts and would take me along with my sister and brother to local festivals, shows, and museum exhibits often buying a piece of art with no regard for where it would go in our home, but on the pure basis of being moved by the piece itself.”
Being visually stimulated by art as a child, and eager to have her hands in something creative, Margaret pursued a degree in Design at Belmont University. Three years into the Graphic Design program, she enrolled in a painting class and fell in love with the process- getting lost in a “visual conversation” with tubes of paint, brushes and canvas. She quickly changed her focus and graduated with a B.F.A. in Studio Art in 2005.
She says her style was inspired by her own painting “Odessa”. What began as an experiment with blind contour drawing and paint, resulted in a style uniquely hers. “I am often intrigued with the sketch behind a great masterpiece as much as the finished painting,” Margaret remarks. Working with her original contour sketches, she uses them to build the foundation of the canvas and to highlight the finished painting. What attracts her most to contour drawings is the energy that stays in the line. “While my subject matter and color pallet have become a personal visual vocabulary,” she says, “the distortion of the lines imparts an invitation to the viewer to join the painting’s conversation and story.” M. Elliott’ artwork has been exhibited in both private and public collections throughout the Southeast and in New York.
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