Leo Monahan

Leo Monahan (1933) is an artist who is known for paper art. Monahan creates paper sculptures and multi-dimensional art work that cannot be represented on a two dimensional flat canvas. Monahan was involved with Chouinard Art Institute. Monahan was the first person to receive a Disney Scholarship to attend the Chouinard Art Institute and after graduation he worked for Disney for 50 years. Leo is an educator who teaches collage and assemblage, conveying basic design principles in an engaging manner. He is a master of color. He highlights the concepts of elements in relation to one another and the power of symbols. He is also proficient at the art of haiku.

Education
Monahan was a student at Chouinard Art Institute between 1954 and 1958.

Career
Monahan was a Graphic Artist in L.A. for years. He designed over 1200 record album covers. Leo created his first paper sculpture in 1960. Since that time he became a pioneer of paper sculpture which he refers to as "Paper in Dimension".

Monahan has worked for Toyota, Coca-Cola, and Nintendo.

One of his works is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Monahan has served as a president of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles.

Awards

 * Life Time Achievement award from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles
 * Life Time Achievement award California Institute of the Arts (2019)

Personal
Monahan grew up in South Dakota. He served in the Korean War.