June Leaf, Self Portrait, drawing.
July 10, 2024
-by John Gillis
It was with heavy hearts that many here in Inverness County learned last week of the passing of artist June Leaf at her home in Manhattan at the age of 94.
According to her agent and friend, Andrea Glimcher at Hyphen management, and as reported by The New York Times, the cause of death July 1st was gastric cancer.
Following the news of her death, Inverness County Centre for the Arts posted on its website: “June called Mabou her home and ICCA was very lucky to present an exhibition of her work ‘June Leaf in Mabou Since 1969’ in September 2022. The show highlighted June’s relationship to Cape Breton and the people whom she became friends with during her time here. Her legacy and impact on this Island are felt throughout generations. The importance those relationships and Cape Breton, especially Mabou, had on her life’s work is profound.”
Following that show, Leaf told Nova Scotia writer Ray Cronin that “The biggest pleasure to me in the exhibit was when I walked in and I saw the people who I drew. They or their relatives were looking at their portraits and that I think is one of the most magical moments of my life.”
I can say from personal experience that Leaf was an inspiration and a mentor to many artists, local and abroad, over the years with her immense talent, commitment, insight, and honesty.
Leaf, and her late husband Robert Frank, also had a profound impact locally through their generous charitable contributions to Inverness Consolidated Memorial Hospital, resulting in the purchase of leading edge digital imaging equipment and an accessible washroom for the hospital as outlined elsewhere in this publication.
Born in Chicago in 1929, Leaf began drawing at a very early age. She studied ballet and later said that she considered herself “a dancer who painted” as well as thinking of herself more as an “inventor.”
Leaf attended New Bauhaus, Institute of Design, Chicago, and Roosevelt University and studied painting in Paris on a Fulbright Scholarship, achieving a Masters of Arts Education. She was awarded an Honourary Doctorate, Humane Letters from DePaul University in 1984, and an Honourary Degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1996.
Leaf had a retrospective show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1978 and “June Leaf: Thought Is Infinite,” was the title of her show at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan in 2016. She also exhibited widely and frequently throughout her career, especially with the Edward Thorp Gallery in New York for much of her life.
Emily Falencki, a friend and fellow artist, worked closely with Leaf in Inverness County curating the show, June Leaf in Mabou Since 1969. The Oran asked Emily if she would comment on Leaf’s work, life and passing this week.
“I was lucky to know June through working on her show at ICCA in September of 2022 - June Leaf in Mabou since 1969.
During the last few years and especially during the making of that show, she shared many details of her life in Mabou. The artwork told the story. She began to paint and draw people here who had met Andrea, Robert Frank’s daughter, who had died tragically after visiting Cape Breton. But the project expanded and she continued to paint and draw so many people whom she met in this place. Her exhibition at ICCA was very important to her, her opening moved her greatly. She was very touched by how many people came to celebrate her and her work. She shared many stories: “When Robert first came to that corner in Mabou where you turn to find the Coal Mines road he pointed and said, ‘down that way, there is something very special down that way’.”
When Robert first climbed up to their house on the hill he leaned over and looked as if he couldn’t catch his breath. She was worried about him and then she realized he had swooned. That was her word, he swooned, as if the beauty was too much for him. For her it took longer she said. The beauty in the landscape was not the thing that kept her or held her here. For June, it was the people and the relationships she built. June and Robert didn’t live here sometimes, they lived here all the time for many years and it was very important to June that people understood that. She once told me that it was one of the things she was most proud of about her life with Robert – that they lived here and were accepted here and found a community here in Cape Breton,” Falencki concluded.
Helen Anne (Beaton) Bassani was a young art teacher from Mabou in her 20s when she first met June Leaf and they embarked upon a lifelong friendship.
They spoke by phone just weeks before June’s death where June expressed her desire and hope to return for another summer to Mabou.
“It was at Bobby MacMillan’s grocery store in Mabou in 1970 that I met June Leaf. She introduced herself as she had heard I was the art teacher at the local school.
‘More than any other women that I met, I was drawn to her natural curiosity and sensitive perceptions. She was strong in intent, very present and made her own rules. If a cup was cracked, then you got your tea in that cup. Outspoken and persistent in her search for meaning. I liked that about her.
‘Her surprise visits to my parent’s home were entertaining and she quickly got to know my father, who was into creating wood art in his retirement.
‘Visits to her home, were always welcomed – many shared stories – I always wanted to go back. She set out to get to know people in the village and I was lucky to have accepted the ‘challenge’ of the dance of June’s friendship.
‘So interested in the mind, the mechanics of the body and applying it to her metal art…like making a part move with an eggbeater, etc.
‘In studio, seeing her sketches grow into amazing sculptures and paintings full of her enthusiasm. Like the ‘Mended Heart,’ a large metal sculpture she created working with Bruce and Jackie Cameron while dealing with the loss of her stepdaughter, Andrea. She was very proud of it.
‘Memories of swims, hikes, and especially her surprise visits to the cottage–with the sound of her fast wheels, we knew it was her.
‘If she had a problem, she was quick to look at a solution… ‘I will handle this,’ She would say, and she did! When squirrels got in her house, she caught them then drew them.
‘I spent many hours in her studio listening to her amazing stories of her work, usually about her people sculptures or drawings. Making a part of her sculptures move made her excited – that was fun, and she enjoyed getting my feedback…it all helped me grow as an artist. I liked the drawings she did of Robert and watching how they shared time together – their smiles were the best!
‘She introduced me to Tom Wait’s music – there was always a surprise with June. On the birth our daughter – a surprise visit from June in February 1986. Another time in 2011, when I couldn’t get to Mabou – another surprise visit to Dartmouth with her blue book, just because she wanted to see me.
‘Last summer she said her favourite painting was ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci – again another surprise.
‘I looked forward to Christmas visits down to the Coal Mines. My brother Kevin’s stories made them laugh! Also, meeting her sister Selma, Robert’s brother, his best friend Weiner, and spending time with her stepchildren Pablo and Andrea was meaningful.
‘It was wonderful to see her so relaxed and cared for the past few summers made possible by the couple who helped June be in Cape Breton in the summer of 2022 – Kate Whalen and John Parlante. Also, Ronald Jirado, who helped June in 2023 – her last summer in Cape Breton.
‘Her realist drawings of local people were so touching, and she spoke warmly about the people she drew. However, it was the experience with people that she seemed to record in her mind that later echoed in her studio work…it was exciting to observe the process. Demands of life and the passage of time made us all slow down, but to the end she was a best friend to me. I will miss her, but know we will get signs from her. She always believed we were so connected.
‘Her desire to get back to Mabou this summer has already showed up with a gentle photo of the evening sky that looks hand painted. It was taken after a drive to the Coal Mines by her house, not knowing she had just passed away in New York. Also, a visit by the Yellow Swallow Tail butterfly photographed on the same day by my daughter Eilidh June. I believe June Leaf’s heart was in Mabou,” Bassani concluded.
Many would agree with Emily Falencki’s comment posted on ICCA’s website: “We feel very lucky to have known her (June), and to have worked with her. This place will not be the same without her. She will be deeply missed by so many.”
