Today we’d like to introduce you to Temme Barkin-Leeds.
Hi Temme, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
There are a few episodes that are relevant to my life as an artist.
As a two-year old, I was chided for pulling the wallpaper off the wall in my grandmother’s house and making marks on the torn-off areas. So began my squelched creativity.
As a divorced adult at age 35, I became an art historian, at the time because I was unable to afford being a full-time practicing artist. I had three kids to feed! After a third degree (MA, Art History), I became Associate Curator of Education at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and then the owner of an Art Consulting Company, Barkin-Leeds Ltd., which I operated for 21 years.
When the time arrived that I was able to return to devoting my efforts to making the art, rather than educating others about it, a then friend, amazing artist Benny Andrews, said to me, “If you are going to make art, have something to say”.
I got my fourth degree, MFA in studio art, on a scholarship to American University in DC and have been making socially-conscious work since.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Struggles were financial, and maintaining balance. At one point, I was a single divorced mother of three at-home children, and balancing working full-time and, at the same time, in a graduate program at GSU.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Even though I secretly made art over most of my life, I have, only for the last two decades, been a full-time practicing artist. I make work that is socially-conscious. I have dealt with issues like the crisis in Darfur (starting in 2005), the dangers one-person shooter video games pose to youth and their use to desensitize the military, the good and bad uses of drones and the consequences therein, and more personal issues like the effects of aging, to mention a few. I am proud of making art that stimulates thinking, that may draw the viewer in with alluring composition and lovely color, but then on second look, make them realize there is more going on. ( See my mini-retrospective show at Ger-Art Gallery up until November 20th, 2025, and the texts written by curator Nicole Lampl).
In my earlier career as an art historian and independent curator and consultant, I am most proud of the significant collections I curated and the exhibition “Homeland of the Imagination” curated during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA.. ( I have a catalogue for you from that exhibition if you would like to have one.)
What sets me apart from others is my dedication to social causes, my integrity, my varied artistic career, my still-boundless energy ( just turned 85!) for making others aware while, at the same time, enjoying the beauty in my art.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk is necessary and inevitable! It is always scary and I say embrace it. What have you got to lose? Is it worth saying after ” if only I had tried “……….this or that thing.
One big risk I took was making an animation in grad school at American U. Learning editing software, coming up with an original way to use paint and animation at the same time, etc. (See the result on my website, temmebarkin-leeds.com, called “Invasion”).When my one-person show at Callanwolde was reviewed, the one piece that stood out for the writer was that animation.
Pricing:
- clay works: $100-250
- works on paper: $300 – $1200
- Paintiings: $350 – $3300
Contact Info:
- Website: https://temmebarkin-leeds.com
- Instagram: @artsy9
