Leo was born in the Black Hills of South Dakota, living a Tom Sawyer-like life along five miles of creek in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore. With an honorable discharge from the US Navy following the Korean War, he attended the prestigious Chouinard Art Institute of Los Angeles in California, where he was the first recipient of the Walt Disney Scholarship. His early career as a designer saw him develop marketing and promotional material, as well as create over 1200 record album covers for diverse artists such as Jan & Dean, Julie London, and Si Zenter. After nearly 20 years of freelance, Leo opened his own advertising studio handling prestigious accounts like KNBC, all the while developing his paper sculpture to create unique and impactful solutions for national magazines and clients like The Seattle Opera, TRW, and Hammermill Paper. A combination of classical paper sculpture and dimensional collage, his richly textured technique employs powerful symbols to evoke an impression of a life lived among the Native Americans, cowboys, miners, lumberjacks, and farmers of the Old West. His worked can be found in public and private collections around the globe, most notably the Smithsonian Institute. Leo has spoken and taught at Chouinard, Cal Arts, USC, and Disney Imagineering, and private seminars and events worldwide, and currently resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
