Cheryll Leo-Gwin

Cheryll Leo-Gwin earned her MFA in metal design at the University of Washington in 1977, and since has created work in a variety of materials from jewelry to large scale public art. In the early 1980s she worked in research and development where she discovered new processes for artists to create work in porcelain enamels. This experience continues to influence her work. Her most recent work uses images from her own sculpture, painting, and photographic images which she isolates, recombines, then translates into large digital prints. As an arts administrator in higher education as well as a state, county and local arts commissioner, her work reflects a sensitivity to public consciousness and social justice. Her current work focuses around issues relative to the US Chinese Exclusion Act of 1883-1943; China's Cultural Revolution; and the Civil Rights Act of 1965 as she compares and contrasts the cultures of East and West.