Publications Spotlight Webb Art Teacher

Webb art teacher and professional artist Jackie Leishman is in the spotlight, with two publications highlighting her work in collage.

Feel Free magazine, newly produced by Leanne Ford, provides an insightful look at how Leishman draws on her feelings and her past work to create moving collages. An earlier piece in Penumbra magazine’s spring 2022 issue focuses on Leishman’s collaboration with scientist/poet Steven Peck that explores climate change.

Leishman, who teaches Honors Studio Art and Advanced Art, has been at Webb for five years. She previously taught at the university level. She holds an MFA in photography from the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

“I love that the work is being received well. At the end of the day, I want to make excellent work and will keep striving to do so,” she said.

In the Feel Free magazine piece, she describes how she takes inspiration from books, nature, other art and her daily life.

“My studio practice is where I work out my thoughts, not just about art, but how I approach the work. I don’t draw or collage what I see, but how I feel about what I see and experience,” she states.

The piece deals with her landscape work focused on Yosemite National Park.

In Penumbra, Leishman’s piece “Sound Coming Undone” is presented along with a poem by Peck. The piece is about a forest becoming undone through disease, deforestation, bark beetles and fire.

Leishman said her work as an artist informs her work as a teacher.

“I bring a love for the work. I do it every day. I understand the ups and downs of the inner life of an artist. I feel I show the students that it really is possible to choose a creative life. And I love that I give them an example of someone who is committed and not tortured by their art,” she said.