Leland Swennes 1936–2016
Leland Swennes was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1936. When he was three, his family moved to San Diego, California, the city he would call home for the rest of his life. He grew up with music, the arts and tennis as staples of his environment. Swennes would narrow the focus of his study to art when in college though he put himself through school teaching art and giving private tennis lessons. After he completed his studies, Swennes continued to teach art to high school students for twenty-six years.
Creativity was an important aspect of Swennes’ life and career; he explained: “Art is a way of life. I live in a handmade house surrounded by handmade furniture, ceramics, graphics, paintings, leaded glass, metal sculpture and fiber arts.” Swennes worked with wood, metal, and ceramics to make one-of-a-kind furniture forms, objects and works of art.
Swennes died in 2012 leaving behind a rich legacy of expertly crafted handmade functional and non-functional pieces in a variety of media and materials.
