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    Review: Clarence Darrow’s Words as Art

    Stacy Leeman is a local Columbus artist with some long tentacles. In recent months, her works have been featured in shows throughout the country from Alabama to New York to Oregon. Leeman’s style is abstract, she calls it “gestural symbolism” describing that as “mark making and juxtaposing incongruous colors to create a unified and absorbing image.” Think Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.

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    Her latest works are a tribute to another Ohioan, Clarence Darrow. The name might be familiar from history books: Darrow started his law career as a labor attorney in the late 1800s, but became known as champion for the underdog in trials such as Leopold and Loeb, the Ossian Sweet trial, and the Scopes (Monkey) trial.

    The lawyer became the focus of the artist’s inspiration a few years ago, when she attended a talk at the Thurber House. Darrow was the subject of historian/author Kevin Boyle’s lecture, and Leeman was struck by Boyle’s suggestion that words themselves were used by Darrow as tools to create justice.

    As it turns out, words themselves became a tool for Leeman to create art.

    Darrow’s Words is the name of the series of works Leeman created after the lecture. Each painting starts with the letters, w-o-r-d. Then Leeman adds layers of contrasting colors and textures to create a meditative piece. Says Leeman, “The ambition of these works is an attempt to prove that the language of paint can be just as potent as the language of words.”

    The Darrow’s Words series will be featured at her latest exhibition, Vermont Meditations, which will debut September 1 at Sharon Weiss Gallery, 20 E. Lincoln St.

    Details: The exhibit will be up from September 1 to 25. An opening reception will be held Sunday, September 4, from 2 – 4 p.m.. Gallery hours are Thursdays, noon – 4 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, noon – 5 p.m.; and Sundays 1 – 4 p.m. For more information on Leeman’s artwork, visit to stacyleeman.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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