Artist Statement

My work is a ritual of building resilience, illuminating the power of the overlooked, and celebrating transness and gender nonconformity as liberating forces. I am fascinated by queerness as a verb - an invitation to meander past the boundaries of convention into a complex world of possibility and connection. Drawing from personal experience, mystical spiritual traditions, posthumanist discourse and lgbtqia+ history, my sculptural works span scale and slip between categories. 

Textile techniques, such as basketry, embroidery, and sewing root the work in queer craft traditions. Materials like canvas, fabric remnants, photographs, and yarn are taken through alchemical cycles of accumulation, alteration, and reconfiguration. They are meticulously disassembled and slowly reformed to become simultaneously more complex and more cohesive. This material shapeshifting mirrors the ever-evolving nature of identity, becoming simultaneously more complex and more cohesive. The work moves at the pace of relationship, slow and deliberate, allowing discomfort to ruminate and wisdom to emerge. Each completed work becomes a sacred vessel, an invitation into the wisdom of queerness for everyone, regardless of identity.

Photo by Shawn Inglima Photography

About Leo

Leo Pontius (they/he) is a community-taught interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Their textile inspired sculptures and wall hangings explore queerness, spirituality, and relationships.  For each work Leo develops a contemplative practice that aligns with both the intention of the work and the artmaking process. 

Leo has a bachelor's degree in Religious Studies from Naropa University and continues to learn in alternative education environments including The Alternative Arts School and New York School of the Arts. They completed the Textile Arts Center’s AIR 16 Residency and are currently part of BricLabs Contemporary Art Residency.

Leo has exhibited work at various institutions and galleries, including East End Arts Council, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, and Brooklyn Art Cave. Their work has been published in I Like Your Works quarterly catalog and their dyeing expertise has been featured in New York Times Wirecutter. Leo also teaches fiber reactive dyeing at the Textile Arts Center and at their studio in Brooklyn.


CONTACT

January 27, 2025

Interview with Julie Schumacher