GARWOOD-SKALA GALLERY EXHIBITS

"The Words He Cannot Say"

FEBRUARY 17TH, 2026 - MARCH 28TH, 2026

DRAWINGS FROM LEO BIRD

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Leo Bird learned how to write textual stories in the vein of JD Salinger, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald in 2011 through a Writing Short Stories class at Pella, Iowa's Central College. His singing skills that he acquired form singing in bands in high school (2006) prepared him for performing at open mics in 2018. A year later, the funniest part of a story where Leo used a drawing to illustratie the difference between two dorm set ups inspired him to create drawings for his other stories. Through trial and error, Leo discovered that he needed to use a laser pointer to refer to the drawings as he spoke, and the drawings needed to be about something he was talking about. At 2019's end, a drawing class at the Des Moines Moines introduced Leo to Staedtler Markers and the book Drawing the Right Side of the Brain, which taught him to use photo references for his drawings instead of making up images of people from his imagination.

Leo won decond place three times at an open mic competition in 2019. Leo began exhibiting art in 2021 at the Iowa State Fair and the Des Moines Public Library. "Where's My Buddy?", a drawing depicting Leo's experience of finding a table to sit at lunch in college, won third place at the Greater Des Moines exhibited in November 2022 and at the Exchanted Illusions exhibit in January 2023, and first place at the Oak Park Art League in October 2023. A wood figure inspired by "Where's My Buddy?" won third place at the 2024 Iowa State Fair. Leo's first big sale was at the April 2024 Bohemian Arts Festival in Des Moins' Merle Hay Mall after he refined his introduction to customers. By the August 2026, he will have exhibited art in Nebraska, Iowa, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Janesville, Wisconson, and Faribault, Minnesota.

STATMENT:

I, Leo Bird (b. 1991, Ames, Iowa) was diagnosed with autism when I was three years old and created the graphic memoir The Words He Cannot Say. In this memoir I show how I overcame alienation and bullying, succeeded in my job search, and learned from mistakes through the patient help of parents, teachers, and classmates.

From analyzing my past, I learned how I or someone else could have acted differently so the confluct could have had a better outcome. I write and draw to provide commentary on actions that my peers and I took in the past, without being influenced by an book, movie, author, or genre, My work is life becoming art instead of art imitating life. Some parts of The Words He Cannot Say were written objectively enough to allow subjective opinions. Audiences react to it in ways that surprise me and I learn from the audience. My stories inspire audiences to to be kind, self aware, courageous, and adventurous, and have debunked muths. The artist I draw like is Alex Katz, whom I had not heard of before artists had analyzed my art. I aim to use a color scheme that creates the maximum amount of contrast between adjacent colors using the minimum amount of color.

I got the idea for The Words He Cannot Say an interview in the summer between my junior and senior year of college in 2013. The interviewer suggested I could teach people about autism. I thought I could do that by using the true storytelling techniques I learned in my Writing Short Stories Class. When I shared my stories, I learned that nuerotypicals (people without autism) and even cats and dogs faced the same challenges fitting in as I did and found the topic interesting, so I shifted the focus of The Words He Cannot Say to fitting in, building talent and character and allowed The Words He Cannot Say to lose the autism theme. This discovery further motivated me to write about my life.

2026 Box Butte Art Society Spring Show

FEBRUARY 17TH, 2026 - MARCH 28TH, 2026

Artwork from members of BBAS

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:

The CAC is pleased to exhibit the work of current members of the Box Butte Art Society. The show features 45 works from 18 different members. With medias ranging from acrylic painting to pastel drawings, woodturning to found object mixed media, the club boasts an impressive range of artistic talent.