What’s For Supper
Hanging on a wall of his studio in Richmond Hill is a painting that exemplifies how Jim Leahy grew up. The painting is of him as a little boy picking up a crab out of the Chesapeake Bay waters. His inspiration to paint the photo, taken years earlier, came while working on an art project while in college.
He grew up as many Maryland kids do - fishing and crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. To say he loves coastal living would be an understatement…Leahy feels as much home to the coast as the crab he plucked from the Bay nearly 40 years ago.
After graduating from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Leahy and his wife decided to explore the west coast art world.
They moved to a suburb just outside of San Francisco, and it was there the Leahy’s spent almost ten years painting, selling and hanging artwork in one of the country’s largest art markets.
In 1995, Jim’s artistic brush strokes and Vicky’s business savvy merged to create their business, Leahy Art Installation. As the Bay area’s only art installer, the Leahy’s captured the market. “A big earthquake hit in 1989, and after that California passed a law that all public artwork had to be bolted to walls,” said Jim. “Vicky is the business major and I am the art major, and we both just looked at each other and said - there’s an opportunity.”
It was the perfect marriage of Jim’s artistic brush strokes and Vicky’s business savvy. The couples business grew, and though Jim and his wife liked their life and home in California, they always knew they would come back to the East Coast.
Jim and Vicky eventually thought they might like to live in Savannah, so they got an apartment on Wilmington Island, and so began the process of looking for a house to purchase. “We looked around the islands, but it was a little too claustrophobic,” remembered Jim. “So our Realtor suggested looking in the Richmond Hill area.” So, Jim decided to check out Richmond Hill, and thus began the journey of how he and his wife chose this as their home.
He was driving on Belfast-Keller Road when he suddenly came upon a bridge, which crosses the Tivoli River. “I saw a guy fishing from the public pier, so I stopped because this was something I knew I had to see,” says Jim. “There was a guy out there, throwing a cast net into the water.”
Jim walked onto the pier in his usual kind, friendly demeanor. “I will never forget it,” he says. “The guy took the time to teach me how to throw the cast net. He said, ‘take this end of the net and put it in your mouth, then take this end and throw it out there like you are laying down your grand mammas’ quilt.’ That’s when I said I have to live around here. This is a really nice place.”
He took a moment to photograph the scene, one to show his wife, and two to reference the scene later for a possible painting. He reminisced, “It was so amazing. The guy was casting that net, and pulling up hand-fulls of shrimp.”
His moment on the pier had a lot to do with the Leahy’s move to Richmond Hill almost six years ago, and today the scene is again the talk around town.
Jim painted the warm, welcoming scene thinking nothing more than of his emotion and joyful experience he had had on the pier that day. He had never envisioned it being the official poster of the 10th Annual Seafood festival when he painted it, but it was made official a couple weeks ago when the Richmond Hill Bryan County Chamber of Commerce announced this year’s poster contest winner.
“When I entered it in the contest, I would have never guessed they would pick my painting,” says Jim. “I was floored when I learned I was the winner. I was completely surprised and honored.”
“What’s For Supper”, Jim’s title for the painting, is this year’s official Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival Poster. Only one-hundred copies of the poster will be sold at the Seafood Festival this year, and Jim is elated to have an opportunity to stand with his passionate work of art at the Chamber of Commerce booth during the festival. “It’s going to be exciting,” says Jim “I can’t wait for the event. It’s always a fun event, and being selected to participate makes it that much more fun.”
Jim’s passion for painting began at an early age, and under the roof of a very influential individual in his father. Albert Michael Leahy, Jim’s father, retired helicopter pilot and renowned combat artist, would pick him up and sit him in his lap. Jim would lend a helping brush with his father’s backgrounds - many of which paintings are now relatively famous in the Marine Corps art world. “From those moments until now, I have always loved painting,” says Jim.
Hundreds of Jim’s painted scenes can now be seen at his studio, Leahy Art Gallery in Richmond Hill, which coincidentally got it’s beginning in much the same way his business in California was born. “One day I went to get one of my paintings I wanted to frame out of the garage, but when I went to look for framers in the yellow pages, there were none in Richmond Hill,” said Jim. “Me and my wife looked at each other again, nodded to each, and new what we had to do. That’s when Leahy Art Services of Richmond Hill was born.”
The studio is filled with many scenes from around the Richmond Hill area. From Sterling Creek to the public fishing pier and everything, there are very few Richmond Hill scenes Leahy hasn’t painted, though he has many more ideas in the works. Often times he is also often commissioned to do a piece of work. His latest is the six-foot by six-foot marsh cape painting he did for the New Bryan Bank and Trust.
“I had a lot of fun creating that scene,” says Jim. “I love that painting. It’s nice to start getting recognition as an artist.”
To view more of Jim’s work, visit his gallery at 11258 Ford Avenue in Richmond Hill. He will also be at the Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival in the Chamber of Commerce booth. Make sure and stop by early to get your limited edition Seafood Festival Poster while they last.
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