Jim Leedy: Artist Across Boundaries

This first book-length discussion of Jim Leedy reveals him as a pioneer of post-war American art, the first to bring the gospel of abstract expressionism to American ceramics. His career constantly crosses the boundaries of materials, genres, subject matter, and themes and adds an important chapter to American art history at a time when boundaries between traditional craft materials and fine art media are already being blurred

The book traces Leedy's progress from his student days in Virginia and New York City, where he met artists Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, through his controversial stay at the University of Montana and his long sojourn in Kansas City, where, as a widely influential and sympathetic teacher at the Kansas City Art Institute, he has had an impact on American art that until now has not been fully acknowledged. Kangas also discusses Leedy's extensive travels abroad, especially in Japan, Finland, and Norway, where Leedy has exposed students and fellow artists not only to new approaches in ceramic sculpture but also to ideas of the radical avant-garde in installation art and performance.

With over 190 full-color plates and illustrations of paintings, ceramics, prints, photographs, public art projects and proposals, and the airborne nylon Sky Art sculptures, Jim Leedy: Artist Across Boundaries explores the influences on and discoveries of this highly original and provocative artist.