We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gwyneth Leech a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gwyneth , thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I grew up surrounded by artists. My grandparents met studying illustration at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Design in Philadelphia in the 1920s, and they made careers in that field. My mother attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Tyler School of Art in the 1950s and became a painter. I always loved making things with my hands, and as far back as I can remember I knew that I would be an artist too. But when it came to the idea of me actually making a career in visual arts, my mother was not encouraging. The financial insecurity of her youth was not something she had experienced as romantic. She was very keen for me to get a firm academic foundation. My father taught at the University of Pennsylvania; a faculty scholarship was available and that’s where I was destined to go.

Penn didn’t have an undergraduate fine arts major in the late 1970s, so I dutifully took the academic route and double majored in anthropology and French. I did well with that, but I was not happy nor was I invested. By my senior year I knew with deep conviction that I had to go to art school. I applied for a fellowship that I could use to study art, as long as it was in Britain—it was a British / American exchange program. Against the odds, I got that fellowship and used it to attend Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. Art school was not plain sailing, actually – it was a shock to find myself in the middle of the pack, whereas before I had always stood out. I was surrounded by terrifically talented and determined students and I had to raise my sights and my skills to match. But from the moment I walked through the doors of that art college my visual arts career path was no longer in doubt. I went on to earn an honors BFA and a Masters level Post Graduate degree in drawing and painting, graduating in 1985. And somehow, I have made my way as a professional artist ever since.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I now live and work in Manhattan. The city has been my subject since I moved back to the USA from Scotland in 1999. I currently make paintings of skeletal, unfinished skyscrapers under construction around me in Midtown. I work in series that can span months or years, capturing building phases in accurate detail and rich color. My paintings document change and the in-between stages of construction, capturing temporary shapes that New Yorkers live with as part of the cityscape for long periods.

I often work on site with a travel easel, standing at street level, dwarfed by massive forms. I strive to capture the light and weather as they change endlessly across a mountainous architectural landscape where each time I come back the structures have changed! Since 2015 I have followed numerous building projects that have dramatically changed the New York City skyline, such as the rise of the Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s far west side, the advent of incredibly thin supertalls on Billionaire’s Row on West 57th Street, the new MoMA tower on 53rd Street and a skyscraper called One Vanderbilt that went up right next to Grand Central Station. In 2022 I continue to make paintings around the Hudson Yards where the density of skyscrapers going up in a small area still amazes me. And my outdoor painting sessions have taken me most recently to Park Avenue where a massive new structure, 270 Park, is dominating the streetscape.

In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, my artwork took a new turn as I became aware of informal and ephemeral living places growing in number and size along side streets behind Port Authority bus station, steps from my painting studio. Built from scavenged materials, they were often in the literal shadow of luxury high rise construction. I began to make paintings of these improvisatory structures and became acquainted with some of the people building and sheltering there. I was moved to begin documenting this other kind of built structure that was increasingly part of the New York cityscape and to follow the questions these images raised.

I am now working on a larger body of artwork called Split Vision, which includes both paintings of rising towers and of self-built shelters. The new dreaming spires of Midtown Manhattan are seen in contrast to the humble and temporary shapes on the sidewalks below. My artwork causes people to shift perspective from ignoring and forgetting, to really seeing what is happening in the moment, and the physical change happening from month to month, year to year since I document places over such long stretches of time.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The beginning of my engagement with building construction was a major test of resilience. It came in 2015 when I realized that a tower was going to go up right outside my painting studio window in the Garment District and that it would be 42 floors tall! I was going to block a view that I loved, one that had inspired many paintings and drawings. In the face of this disruption and the persistent feeling of impending loss, what was I going to do? My first impulse was to leave. But then I considered that if I stayed there was potentially an interesting series of artworks to be made. And that’s what I decided to do – stay and give this unwanted change my full attention. The result is that I made scores of drawings and paintings of the construction process on that one building, from the foundation up.

I started calling the tower “the Monolith”. It had a slab-like quality, an immovability, and it began to represent other monolithic things in my life that couldn’t be shifted, in particular my sister’s death by suicide that same year. In this period, I had to dig deep to come back from that overwhelming family loss. Throwing myself into my artwork and fully embracing the unwanted change outside my window allowed me to find a way forward. Depicting New York building construction has sustained me ever since.

Here’s a 10 minute documentary about my construction site artwork https://www.gwynethleech.com/documentary.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Connection to communities who will relate to, understand, and see themselves reflected in my artwork is the most rewarding part of being an artist for me. The construction project is a great example. I really didn’t know who would be interested in my project of recording what was happening outside my studio window, but as soon as I started to share these new drawings and paintings with friends and fellow artists, the response was immediate and strong. Everyone I showed the artwork to could relate. Love it or hate it, construction is what we live with in New York City. Seven years later, I now have collectors who range from New Yorkers fascinated by the changing city to the CEOS, presidents and chairmen of major construction and engineering companies in New York City, Canada, Italy and as far away as Australia.

My paintings also appeal to the people who have worked on the building sites: iron workers, crane operators, engineers. Unlike architects and realtors who are focused on the finished building, these are people who are deeply connected to the process of bringing the buildings to completion. For many who have worked on the iconic skyscrapers of Manhattan, these are special, unforgettable jobs. They see my paintings as a celebration and a commemoration of their contribution to the city.

I am not through with this series yet. There are so many construction sites to keep up with and so much of interest to capture! I am also fascinated by the people I meet when I am doing these paintings on site. A network of relationships has grown around the series. Not just construction workers, architects and engineers, but site and project managers, safety inspectors, security guards, taxi and limo drivers, realtors, students, local residents and tourists are among the people I meet and talk to while painting outdoors. Their comments have become subtexts to the paintings I make, and their points of view suggest new directions to explore!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gwynethleech.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwynethleech
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gwyneth.leech
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwyneth-leech-270a648/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/gwynethleech

Image Credits
Gwyneth Leech Studio