Can’t Talk Without A Pencil. Watercolors by Leo Dodd
Geisel Gallery
1 Bausch and Lomb Place 2nd Floor Mezzanine
May 4, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Leo Dodd (1927-2015) was an avid painter, photographer, birder, naturalist, history buff, and community advocate. But sketching was his overriding passion. He liked to say, “I can’t talk without a pencil.” Leo took an early retirement offer and began sketching local scenes. He loved downtown and was especially drawn to construction sites as Rochester remade itself. He found one such project close to his Corwin Road home, the reworking of the Can of Worms in 1988. He went there almost daily to draw and paint and was quoted in an article in the Democrat & Chronicle as saying, “At the Can it is changing every minute and the fun is just that – unposed activity with something changing all the time. I like to sketch equipment. I guess it’s the engineer in me.” The 2017 Rochester Biennial at Rochester Contemporary Arts Center featured Leo Dodd’s Rochester paintings – the construction of the O’Rorke Memorial Bridge, the Frederick Douglass Susan B. Anthony Bridge, the Bausch & Lomb corporate headquarters building, Red Wing Stadium and the Sculpture Park at the Memorial Art Gallery. But Leo painted everywhere he went. He sketched and painted birds, flowers, barns, landscapes, lighthouses, Cape Cod, Maine and much more. All can be seen in this show.