Doris Leeper

Doris “Doc” Leeper was a renowned Florida artist and environmental activist. Leeper was a founder of the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach and instrumental in the creation of the Canaveral National Seashore and the Spruce Creek Preserve, renamed the Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve in memoriam. A Florida Alliance for Arts Education Award in named in her honor and in 1999 Leeper was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Leeper was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 4, 1929 and died in New Smyrna on April 11, 2000. Leeper graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University with a BA in Art History, 1951. In 1961 Leeper left the commercial graphics field to work in sculpture and painting full-time. Her work is in almost 100 public collections and during her lifetime she widely exhibited in one-person and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. A 45-year retrospective of her work was held at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum in 1995. Leeper won numerous awards in her lifetime.

After she moved to New Smyrna Beach in 1958, Leeper became very involved with the protection of the Canaveral Seashore and a leader in environmental protection. In 1982 the Atlantic Center for the Arts, an internationally renowned artists’ community that Leeper was instrumental in creating, opened. Leeper was also a founding member and creator of the Alliance of Artists’ Communities, a consortium of artists’ colonies and residency programs throughout the U.S. Leeper also co-owned a commercial visual arts gallery located in New Smyrna Beach, “Arts on Douglas”.

From the guide to the Doris Leeper, Papers, 1951-1999, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, )