August 2013

The Sawtooth School for Visual Art and the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County in Winston-Salem, NC, Feature Works by Leo Rucker

The Sawtooth School for Visual Art and the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County in Winston-Salem, NC, is presenting Role Model Beyond Beauty, on view in the Davis Gallery, through Aug. 5, 2013.

This show is an exhibition of pastel portraits by Winston-Salem artist Leo Rucker celebrating women from the National Black Theatre Festival, the NC Black Repertory Company, and other women of color from around the world who are role models beyond beauty. The show has been selected from more than 150 portraits in the personal collection of Lafayette and Sandra Jones, executive partners of SMSi-Urban Call Marketing.

Rucker began his career at age five, and is closely connected to the local community through a variety of artistic projects. He has painted murals in many local spaces over the past twenty years - from schools (Diggs Elementary) and community locations (Winston Lake YMCA and Experiment in Self Reliance) to outdoor locations (Transportation Center) and for private homes.

Rucker is also noted for his portraits, in media ranging from pencil to pastel, oil and acrylic. He has been commissioned to produce portraits of legendary local figures including the late Judge Roland Hayes, and Larry Leon Hamlin, founder of the National Black Theatre Festival. Since 1996 he has created original pastel portraits of accomplished ethnic women for Black Hair magazine’s “Role Models” column on a monthly basis.

The Delta Arts Center in Winston-Salem will also exhibit paintings and drawings by Rucker that reflect his involvement in the community, as well as a short video of the artist discussing his mural projects, produced exclusively for this exhibition.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the School at 336/723-7395 or visit (www.sawtooth.org).

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