Edgecomb artist Leeroy Gandy stands with a barn quilt he painted, featuring a cardinal and blue jay. Gandy, a lifelong artist and mathematician, said he takes inspiration from birds and the natural beauty of the Midcoast for his barn quilts and other artistic pursuits. (Molly Rains photo)
“Anybody can do it,” Leeroy Gandy said on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 18, standing in his home among a half-dozen wooden canvases painted with carefully drafted geometric cardinals, chickadees, blue jays and more.
That anybody could make a barn quilt might be technically true, especially if Edgecomb artist Gandy is present to oversee the intensive preparation, drafting, sketching, and precise color application necessary for the art form.
Gandy’s barn quilts, however, are like no others. Over the past four years, he has designed each pattern himself and painstakingly mastered the art form. Now, Gandy hopes to share the art form with more Edgecomb residents.
Barn quilts are thought to have originated among Mennonite immigrants to the Northeast United States hundreds of years ago, Gandy said. The boards, inspired by traditional quilt patterns, are adorned with geometric shapes reminiscent of patchwork pieces.
The quilts can come in any shape or size and may be abstract or figurative. Gandy chose to focus on birds in his quilts, he said Oct. 18, because he is inspired by their incredible diversity and beauty.
“There’s so many different varieties of birds, almost like the number of trees … I can choose one that is colorful, or some that are almost monochromatic, like the meadowlark, that is almost all yellow,” he said.
Gandy designs the patterns for his quilts himself, taking the process as a challenge. A mathematician and software engineer in his past career, Gandy is especially precise and painstaking in his efforts to perfect the geometric arrays.
“That is what really makes them charming: The fact that they are so precise and deliberate,” he said.
So far, Gandy has designed barn quilts of hummingbirds, cardinals, blue jays, and more. Next, he hopes to perfect his patterns inspired by puffins and loons, two of Maine’s most iconic birds.
After drafting the pattern, Gandy prepares the board with sealant, paint, and sanding.
“There’s a lot of tedium that goes into the preparation for the board, in order to get the edges nice and smooth. Then you start the laborious process of painting,” Gandy said.
Gandy uses painter’s tape to achieve straight lines and perfect shapes. The process, he said, is relaxing.
“I find it totally soothing,” he said.
Since his retirement, Gandy has found more freedom to pursue his artistic inclinations.
Though his career did not take place within the traditional art world, Gandy said his creativity has followed him throughout his life.
As a child, Gandy created art on the surfaces of end cuts of lumber that his father brought home to stoke the wood stove on which his mother cooked.
“We’re from humble beginnings,” Gandy said. “I would pull larger pieces (of kindling) out of the pile, and I used those as my palate. We could not afford oil paints, could not afford canvases, so at an early age, I would use these end cuts as makeshift canvases.”
This, Gandy said, may explain his affinity for the medium of wood, which is evident in both his barn quilts and sign-making endeavors.
As a young man, Gandy became interested in science and mathematics as well as art. He taught high school mathematics for four years while pursuing a master’s degree in mathematics.
While he was immersed in the precision and rationality of math, Gandy said his creativity was far from suppressed: in fact, he said, his artistic tendencies made him a more engaging, enlivened teacher, who came up with exciting lesson plans and understood different forms of intelligence.
While in graduate school studying mathematics, Gandy was introduced to computers, which fascinated him. This discovery initiated a decades-long career at technology company International Business Machines, or IBM, where Gandy developed software to assist with the complex manufacturing processes involved in making computers.
This involved an in-depth understanding highly complicated systems and the ability to communicate that understanding effectively, Gandy said. His creativity and ability to think visually helped Gandy accomplish this, he said.
“I found having artistic tendencies (helped me) do whatever I could in order to make sure that I was communicating as best I knew how. I have always found that to be the case, even in how I taught my students,” Gandy said.
Throughout his career, Gandy continued to indulge his artistic interests in his free time, working with wood and developing his skills.
“To me, (art) was always an escape,” he said.
Now retired, Gandy said he is looking forward to discovering how he can continue to give back to his community and express himself artistically in new ways.
Gandy retired in 2017 and began making barn quilts about four years ago. He also takes photographs and, through his business The Wood Chip, builds wooden signs.
In 2023, Gandy reaccessed his teaching side, instructing 12 Edgecomb residents in a barn-quilt making class that was so popular Gandy had to turn some would-be students away.
Teaching and sharing his art with others is something Gandy hopes to continue doing in his retirement.
“I still feel as if I have more to give in that regard,” he said.
On Oct. 15, Gandy spoke before the Edgecomb Select Board to propose a potential community art project involving a barn quilt class that could provide wall art for the Edgecomb town hall.
“I think it would be fun to have something done by other residents that would be on display,” said Edgecomb Select Board Chair Michael Maxim.
Gandy hopes to finish his puffin and loon patterns before his next class, which will likely be held next summer.
In the meantime, he continues to find inspiration across the region.
“My wife and I have been smitten with the beauty of the Midcoast,” said Gandy, who also continues making signs and taking photographs.
“I can see art in anything,” he said.
For more information, email Gandy at thechip091@gmail.com or call 845-548-2502.
