Jo Leal Clark at work.
About the Artist
Jo Leal Clark’s work includes plein air landscapes, still lifes, and a series of dramatic and sometimes whimsical barnyard animals.
Living on Cape Cod, Jo Leal finds that painting on location combines the best of two worlds for her. She loves to be outdoors and she loves creating art. She and her husband are avid hikers and campers and they travel around New England finding remote and beautiful spots to explore and for Jo Leal to capture in oil. Her line of note cards features photos of her original paintings mounted on fine deckle-edged cards that are hand-titled and signed by the artist.
Jo Leal’s awards include a one-month artist’s residency for the Spring of 2006 at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, IL. There she studied and interpreted the historical decoration of keyboard instruments, mainly harpsichords and clavichords.
Clavichord
I am actively working on a fresh approach to the decoration of both reproduction and modern harpsichords, clavichords and virginals, an approach which combines classical decorative styles and the more contemporary idiom of our time. I have ready access to an inventory of these keyboard instruments as my husband is a restorer of such instruments. The clavichord lid depicted here features a landscape scene in oil.
The soundboard of this clavichord is decorated in egg tempera and depicts plants and animals that can be found in the landscape painted on the lid.
(Price of clavichord on request.)I am accepting commissions for instrument decoration.
Receiving her early art education at Santa Monica Community College (CA), Jo Leal since moving to Cape Cod has studied at the Cape Cod School of Art, the Fine Arts Work Center, both in Provincetown, MA, and at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM). She has studied with Selina Trieff, Lois Griffel, Carol Whorf Westcott, Marilyn Schofield, Marjorie Portnow and most recently with Doug Ritter. She exhibits her work locally, won first place in the 2003 Margaret Dole Orleans Cultural Council exhibit, and exhibits at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
She and her husband John live in an 1840s Greek Revival house that they have restored to its original beauty. Her husband runs The Inquiring Mind that offers classes in the study of literature in their home and he is also a life coach specializing in creativity.
Professional Arts Summary
Art Education
- Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), Provincetown, MA
- 2007 – Advanced Painting – winter semester – Douglas Ritter
- Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
- 2004 – “Landscape Painting” – workshop - Marjorie Portnow
- 2003 – “Drawing from the Figure” – workshop - Selina Trieff
- Cape Cod School of Art, Provincetown, MA
- 2000 – “Plein Air Painting” – workshop - Carol Whorf Westcott.
- 1999 – “Painting the Impressionistic Landscape”- workshop - Lois Griffel
Four years of study with Cape Cod artist Marilyn Schofield from 1994 to 1998
Eight semesters of art study (1979 to 1983) including drawing, sculpture, graphic design, and life drawing at Santa Monica Community College, Santa Monica, CA.
Shows, Exhibits & Awards
| PAAM Members Open | Provincetown, MA, 2006 |
| New Works Exhibit | Historic Highfield Hall, Falmouth, MA 2006 |
| Invitation to Art | West Yarmouth, MA, 2006 |
| The Synergy of Art | Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA, August, 2006 |
| Old Peacock Alley Art Gallery | Orleans, MA, 2004 - 2006 |
| Exhibit, Bishop’s Terrace | West Harwich, MA, 2004 - 2006 |
| Orleans Cultural Council Art Show | Orleans Town Hall, Orleans, MA, 2005 |
| First Prize - Orleans Cultural Council Memorial | Orleans Town Hall, Orleans, MA, 2003 |
| Orleans Cultural Council Art Show | Orleans Town Hall, Orleans, MA, 2002 |
| Nauset Painters Guild Juried Show | Snow Library, Orleans, MA, 2001 |
| Christmas Gathering of Artists and Friends | Eastham, MA, 2000 to present |
| Cultural Council Hands on the Arts Juried Shows | Eastham, MA, 1997 to Present |
| Eastham Library, Eastham, MA | Annual one-person exhibits, 1997 - 2005 |
| Eastwind Art Gallery | Orleans, MA, 1996 - 1998 |
| Orleans Art Association Juried Show | Snow Library, Orleans, MA – December, 1996 and 1997 |
| "Go Figure," Members Open Exhibit, PAAM | 2007 |
Associations
- Cape Cod Art Association, 2007
- Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) - 2007
- Eastham Painters Guild, juried artist – 1997 - 2005
- Nauset Painters Guild, juried artist – 1999 - 2003
- Eastham Cultural Council, board of directors – 1996 - 2000
- Orleans Art Association, juried artist – 1995 - 1998