Fabric dye on cotton 32 x 45 in.
Fabric dye on cotton 34 x 43 inches
Fabric dye on cotton 25 x 85 in.
Fabric dye on cotton 32 x 45 in.
Sandra Leonard is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Chicago. Her practice encompasses painting, wearable sculpture, performance, and installation, often merging these forms to create immersive, surreal environments.
Over the past three decades, Leonard has participated in numerous performances, improvised theater projects, and site-responsive installations, presenting work both nationally and internationally.
In 2014, Leonard was selected as a Featured Artist for Chicago Artist Month, a citywide annual celebration of the arts. In 2017, she represented Beverly Ward in the 50 x 50 exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. She also has designed interactive costumes for institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, notably for the museum’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus.
Leonard’s recent solo exhibitions include Sandra Leonard: Elements of the Imagination (Beverly Arts Center, 2021) and Sandra Leonard: Unexpected Narratives with Flora and Fauna (Evanston Art Center, 2021). In addition to her studio practice, she has curated several exhibitions, including the group exhibition Absurdity: In Dada We Trust (2023) and the solo exhibition Pshshshsh for Ukrainian artist Valeria Tarasenko (2024).
In 2024, Leonard was awarded a DCASE Individual Artists Grant for her wearable sculpture and performance project Unexpected Narratives, which was presented at Alma Gallery in collaboration with dancers from Still Inspired Dance Company. In 2025, she was selected for a residency at Vermont Studio Center, where she developed a new series of large-scale paintings expanding her interdisciplinary practice. Leonard is currently preparing for her solo exhibition, Intentional Distortions, at Governors State University, opening March 2027.
Merging painting, sculptural costumes and performance, my practice develops ambiguous imagery and environments that evoke a sense of mystery and escapism, placing an emphasis on the viewer's subjective narrative. Taking inspiration from Surrealist notions of automatism, I begin each fabric dye painting without planning or reference and allow the automatic and the subconscious to seep into my works. Applying the dye with a syringe eliminates a level of control granted to other painting mediums and makes the base of every work a conversation between myself and the material. After the base painting has sat and dried, I return to the piece to read and interpret the abstract forms. By eliciting stylized foliage and absurd creatures, I draw the viewer into a dreamlike landscape.
My primary interest in costumes is to merge the sculptural with the wearable. By creating organic forms (often sourcing material from my fabric dye paintings) and setting them in motion with Dada-esque performances, I explore living sculpture. These performances always foreground the relationship between the wearer and the piece itself. In my work I allow the abstract forms of the costumes themselves to dictate the choreography, working with dancers only after the costumes are complete so that they may both restrict and provoke movement. This reciprocal dynamic between the dancers and the costume translates into kinetic sculpture. The resulting theatrical performances lack linear narrative, allowing viewers to form their own stories by examining their relationship with the sculptural, kinetic, and figurative elements of the scene.