After 15 years of unwavering dedication, Space 4 Art Co-Founder Bob Leathers has stepped down from his leadership role as Board President, handing the reins to Emily Knapp, who has served by his side as Vice President since 2020. Ever the community builder and collaborative leader, Bob will continue his work on the board in service of the organization he co-founded with Cheryl Nickel and Chris Warr in 2009.

Space 4 Art’s co-founders, from left to right: Bob Leathers, Cheryl Nickel, Chris Warr.

Over the years, Bob has filled numerous leadership roles in addition to serving as president. He led the design and build-out of our East Village facility as head architect and chief of construction; served as the organization’s bookkeeper, chief administrator, and interim executive director; and continued his service as an educator and co-director of educational outreach— all while leading as president, maintaining a studio practice, and serving as mentor to all. While his roles are ever-shifting, one thing has not changed: Bob remains laser-focused on securing Space 4 Art’s mission, vision, and values, and expanding the organization’s impact by establishing a large-scale, multidisciplinary Arts Center for the San Diego-Tijuana region.

MASTER BUILDER

During his architectural career, Bob spent close to 30 years as owner and president of a New York-based firm that specialized in volunteer-built community projects, completing 2,400 projects in all 50 states and 10 foreign countries. After relocating to San Diego County in 2000, Bob continued his architectural work until he realized that San Diego’s artist community faced an existential threat due to a lack of affordable live and work spaces. That community need was the driving force behind Space 4 Art.

From 2007 to 2008, Bob led a group of artist leaders in engaging local artists to constructively discuss the lack of affordable artist housing in San Diego. Fast forward through 2009-2010 when, following a year-long series of community-design meetings, Bob led the design and construction of the physical space now known as Space 4 Art.

In its early years, the Space included three adjoining warehouses that contained 35 studios, five work-live units, two galleries, office space, a meeting room, and a large parking lot, which became, in 2011, the staging ground for a large performance space and classroom.

A view of the outdoor stage in S4A’s parking lot. PC Paul Koester.

In 2014, soon after officially becoming a nonprofit, Space 4 Art acquired a vacant lot on Market Street, the first step to fulfilling the founding promise of establishing a permanent Arts Center. But just as that project was building steam, Space 4 Art faced an existential challenge.

After a change in ownership of our leased warehouses, Space 4 Art lost half our indoor space and almost all the outdoor space in 2017, effectively eliminating our galleries, meeting room, and a quarter of our studio spaces, as well as our classroom, performance stage, and most parking spaces.

Bob soldiered on through it all, leading repeated quests for partnerships and design plans that would fulfill Space 4 Art’s critical mission. It has been a long and twisty road, but Bob has persisted.

A WORLD OF DISCOVERY

In addition to his long and storied career as an architect, Bob has pursued a variety of art practices. Before founding his architectural firm, he spent 10 years as a producer and set designer for experimental theater in Oregon and New York. After handing over his firm to his son, Marc, Bob established a studio practice and devoted a number of years to teaching drawing and painting in San Diego.

A pivotal shift in Bob’s artistic direction occurred after his wife and co-founder Cheryl Nickel insisted he accompany her to an “art quilt show.” Unenthused, Bob reluctantly agreed to go along.

“It was the beginning of a whole new world for me!” Bob says of his introduction to fiber arts. “I used to draw and paint all the time, but I now almost exclusively work with fabric and create what many people call ‘fiber paintings.’ I discovered that the sewing machine was something I could draw with.”

Essentially, Bob now makes the very ‘art quilts’ he once dismissed, and now describes himself as both a fiber artist and an architect. When working on his “fiber paintings,” Bob leans toward subjects in nature, and begins by doing a photo transfer onto fabric.

Bob discovered he could draw with a sewing machine. PC Barbarella Fokos

“I may at that point incorporate hand-dyed fabric, and I will draw a concept of what it is about. What am I trying to express? What am I saying about that piece of nature?” Bob says. “From there I will take it to the sewing machine, where I will lay out the basic pattern without the detail. Then, it’s the thread that brings it alive.”

To learn more about Bob’s fiber-art practice, check out this 4-minute interview by Barbarella Fokos of Art Pulse TV, now Salt and Sugar Productions.

Art Pulse TV: Bob Leathers

MODEL MENTOR

Bob has dedicated hundreds of hours guiding learners in traditional and nontraditional classrooms and construction sites. From 2012 to 2017, Bob and his crew leveraged the Space 4 Art galleries, classroom and parking lot to offer free educational programming to the community at large. More than 450 students attended classes during those years.

Bob works with students in S4A’s outdoor classroom.

Using a powerful mentorship model that connected working artists with students, Bob also deployed the outdoor classroom as a staging ground for large-scale, community-built projects in collaboration with more than 100 high school interns.

Committed to a community process and introducing students to the dynamic potential of design, Bob led a group of students and teachers from High Tech High, Chula Vista, as well as interns and volunteers from King Chavez High School, on a Tiny House building project. With support from other Space 4 Art artists and outside volunteers, Bob led the entire crew to design and build seven modular, affordable work-live units, which serve as prototypes for the Arts Center project. Many of the students had little familiarity with tools of any kind at the start of this project, but they left having used table saws, chop saws, nail guns, drills, hammers, drivers, and more.

Whether facilitating hands-on art experiences for under-resourced students or leading a community construction project, Bob loves helping people of all ages experience art.

“Art is about discovery,” Bob says. “For so many people, there’s an ‘Aha!’ factor or a ‘Wow!’ factor. That kind of reaction is what I like most. If you involve them and immerse them in it, you’re more likely to have a more powerful communication.”

Bob discusses one of his “art quilts” with a guest during Open Studios. PC Sandy Huffaker

Although Bob has stepped down as president, his leadership will continue. It’s simply who he is. We are grateful for Bob’s leadership and vision, which have brought us to an exciting new chapter and milestone year, and we look forward to all that is in store for Space 4 Art.

To learn more about Bob Leathers, check out his website or stop in and chat with him at any Space 4 Art event— he’s always there!

Bob Leathers: Leading By Example