She drinks scotch, drives a three-quarter ton pickup and is married to a man named Buck. She's an artist whose bold brushstrokes and spontaneous use of color have translated her most recent obsession into a series of paintings she hopes will help others as much as herself.

Artist Leslie Shiels in her pickup truck outside Hughes High School. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Guardians Against Ignorance, on view through March 30 at the Weston Art Gallery, downtown, is a collection of Leslie Shiels' portraits of the hand-carved stone grotesques that decorate the parapets of the old Hughes High School building in University Heights.

        The stunning paintings already have been used by a local executive in his campaign to restore his high school alma mater. Next month, one of the images will be used as the symbol for Holocaust Awareness Weeks, a project sponsored by Hebrew Union College's Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education.

        “I'm hoping these paintings have a bigger mission,” Ms. Shiels says. “Maybe one or two will end up in a public school somewhere. Wouldn't that be cool?”
       

Representative gnomes

        She is a dainty woman with plenty of passion and a zest for life. When asked about her use of color she says, “Bordeaux speaks to me,” then giggles. She favors cowboy boots and blue jeans, wears her hair to her shoulders and uses her hands in kinetic bursts of energy when she speaks.

        In her Milford studio are double rows of highly colored gnomes representing agriculture, alchemy, oratory, geography, history and physical education.

        “That one's chemistry,” she says pointing to one of the portraits. “He looks like he's smoking a crack pipe. Our times have definitely changed our viewpoints.”

Leslie Shiels paintings of Hughes High figures: History (top), Chemistry (middle), Geography. | ZOOM |

        Grotesques are guardian figures — guarding, in the case of the old school now called Hughes Center, against ignorance and a lack of education. Often confused with gargoyles, which are basically waterspouts, grotesques are symbolic talismans, writhing figures of defense caught in stone, protecting against the gremlins of fear and despair.
       

Inspired by photographer

        Ms. Shiels first learned of the guardians from local photographer Robert Flischel who had been shooting the art — Rookwood fountains, murals, statuary — in Cincinnati public schools for An Expression of the Community: Cincinnati Public School's Legacy of Art and Architecture a book published by the recently resurrected art league.

        “Bob, who is just a ... fabulous, over-the-top, really interesting guy, was documenting all these treasures,” she explains. “He said "Oh, Leslie, you're really going to love these grotesques.' So he took me up to Hughes High School, and the librarian took me up into the building and said these are the guardians for education. The grotesques were inspirational to me, so I decided to paint their portraits.”

        “I think the paintings are exhilarating interpretations of often overlooked architectural elements,” Mr. Flischel says. “They really bring to life the whole medieval, mystical, strange world of these defenders.”
       

Displayed in Youngstown

        Four of Ms. Shiels' romantic interpretations were displayed at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown prior to their premiere in Cincinnati on Jan. 25. This is how, Ms. Shiels believes, they came to the attention of Charles Whitehead, president of the Ashland Oil Foundation.

        “I didn't know from Charles Whitehead,” Ms. Shiels says. “He called me on my phone at the studio and invited me to lunch. He is just a really dynamic guy. You know when you meet somebody and you just say to yourself, "Whoa?'

IF YOU GO

What: Guardians Against Ignorance, paintings by Leslie Shiels     When: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday (open late of Procter & Gamble Hall performance evenings)     Where: Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center for the Arts, downtown     Admission: $1 suggested     Information: 977-4165

        Mr. Whitehead, 64, had graduated from Hughes High and was trying to save the school from rumored demolition.

        “I was going before the Cincinnati Public School system talking about Hughes as I knew it, as a student,” Mr. Whitehead says. “It was a wonderful place with all sorts of artifacts.”

        “This guy is way cool,” Ms. Shiels says. “I think his intentions are terrific. He went to Hughes High School and then he left town and had, and has, this wonderful executive career — way out of my box — and then he comes back here with Ashland Oil and he says they aren't tearing down my school. I am saving it because it is one of the best things.”
       

Part of lobbying effort
        Mr. Whitehead asked Ms. Shiels if he could show her images to the school board and the Hughes Alumni Foundation in hopes they might be incorporated into the lobbying efforts for restoring, perhaps saving the school.

        “I thought she was doing something that was different and outstanding,” Mr. Whitehead says. “Through her paintings, she has brought the school's artifacts to life. These paintings represent what the Cincinnati Public Schools used to be like. What we are trying to do is restore these schools and give the students who attend them today the appreciation for the art and artifacts we had back then.”

        Of the $500,000 the foundation hopes to raise, more than $300,000 has been collected to help with artwork restoration, Mr. Whitehead says. And that's before the foundation's capital fund program has even begun.

        “I think he is going to save the structure,” Ms. Shiels proclaims.
       

Holocaust Awareness
        The portraits also came to the attention of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, sponsors of Holocaust Awareness Weeks that will take place April 7-21.

        “We were looking for Cincinnati artists to create an image for Holocaust Awareness Weeks,” explains Dr. Racelle R. Weiman, the center's director. “We went through eight or nine artists, none of whom had the power or vision that Leslie was able to pull out of her pictures. Nor the personality. Leslie has this love of life and this great sense of involvement in community. She immediately offered herself and her work free of charge. She cares. She's wonderful.”

        The center selected Ms. Shiels' portrait of history, which will be used as the central image for all printed material related to the event.

        “This portrait emphasizes learning from history, not making the same mistakes. And that it is possible to confront evil,” Dr. Weiman says. “The idea of the gargoyle with the burden of history on its shoulder looking off into the distance represents looking at where we did great things so we can ... showcase the potential for goodness in human beings. It will be the symbol of everything we do this year.”
       

"I gotta paint'
        Ms. Shiels, 51, has been painting most of her life, although she confesses she's gone off on a few tangents. She grew up in Cincinnati and went to school at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning where she earned a BFA in art history in 1974. She is married to Buck Shiels and lives in Indian Hill.

        “I paint because I have to paint,” she says. “It's like I gotta have a glass of wine. I gotta paint.

        “My brother had this teacher in school who had this wonderful saying. He would say, "Boys, ya gotta take a shower. If you don't take a shower, you don't get a job. If you don't get a job, you don't eat. If you don't eat, you die. That's really all it is for me. You don't paint. You die.”
       

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