Leanna Leithauser-Lesley’s ‘Shaken by the Roots’ on Display at the Birmingham Public Library

By Margaret Splane | Birmingham Public Library The Central Library downtown is hosting artist Leanna Leithauser-Lesley’s stunning new exhibition, Shaken by the Roots. The show is a retrospective of Leithauser-Lesley’s needlepoint portraits of jazz and blues musicians, spanning from the start of her career in the early 2000s to the present. Leanna Leithauser-Lesley Shaken by the Roots is on display in BPL’s First Floor Gallery through September 27. A reception for the artist will take place on Saturday, September 14, in the Central Library’s Fourth Floor Gallery from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Leithauser-Lesley describes herself as “an avid needlepointer motivated by the power of jazz music.” Among Leithauser-Lesley’s subjects are influential, internationally known jazz artists Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Thelonius Monk, Jelly Roll Morton, Django Reinhart, Mary Lou Williams, and Lester Young. Others are jazz and blues artists from right here in Birmingham, including Bo Berry, Henry “Gip” Gipson (depicted in No Blacks, No White, Just Blues below), Elaine Hudson, Elnora Spencer, and Dinah Washington (depicted in Queen of the Blues above). Leithauser-Lesley’s needlepoint portraits are presented in unique antique and vintage frames, while vinyl records serve as...