Leonard Jagoda

The draft prevented Len Jagoda from taking advantage of a scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of Art. With a monthly base pay in 1966 of less than $50 a month, he decided to accept the Army’s offer to enter OCS and as a result spent 7 years on Active Duty. Following his active duty, he returned to school on the GI Bill, but majored in business instead of Art, again for practical reasons. While in school and early in his business life, his works were devoted to horses in pen & ink. Two of these received recognition on covers of The Chronicle of the Horse; but, business demands left little time for art. Almost completely abandoning art for the next 30 years; he continued to be involved with horses. That involvement included riding hunter jumpers, breeding and racing. His equine familiarity comes from true “hands on” experience that also includes delivering foals and training and exercising horses. Len lives on a small farm in Georgia where he still keeps three horses that are convenient live references for his art. His devotion to dogs is just as passionate. Over the years he and his wife have adopted over 30 homeless dogs most living into their teens. They currently have five rescued dogs and one rescued cat. Len accuses St. Francis of Assisi of having a duty station at the edge of their property, directing animals in need to them.
He left the business world in February 2007 and has since committed to art on a full time basis. His decision to focus on horses and dogs demanded dusting off his collection of anatomy books and studying bone structure, muscles and the mechanics of his subjects.
His familiarity with animals comes through in his art. His portraits are more than a fantastic likeness; he has the ability to capture expressions that reflect the subjects’ character and personality. His comprehension of anatomy shows in his sculptures suggesting how he transitioned his return to art.
When Len rededicated himself to art, he chose to concentrate on fundamentals by limiting his art to sculpture and drawing for his first year back. This self-imposed limitation forced a dedication to the basics of form and values. He refused to work in color until he was satisfied with his works completed during this period. His discipline was well rewarded. His first completed sculpture cast in bronze (Tribute – Labrador Retriever Portrait in Bronze) was recognized in six art competitions with two Best in Show awards, a First Place award, a Merit Award at the state level and two Honorable Mentions, one in a national competition. His pastels quickly followed suit. Since his first entry in competitions in 2008, his awards for sculptures and pastels total sixteen, including three Best of Shows; three First Place Awards, two Second Places; one Third Place; three Merit Awards and three Honorable Mentions and the Molly & Claude Scarbrough Award.
Although he has a relatively small body of work, attributable to a long interruption and a very recent return to art, his works are in homes and private collections from as far west as the state of Washington to Georgia and the Carolinas, from Michigan to Texas and as far away as Saudi Arabia. His works hang in some of the most prestigious stud farms in Kentucky.
Len is a member of the Columbus Artists Guild and the Southern Rivers Artists Guild and has been admitted to many juried shows and galleries including the Joseph House Art Gallery, Kaleidoscope, and the Southern Rivers Art Exhibit at Callaway Gardens Discovery Center. He was accepted to the 2008 Plantation Wildlife Art Festival, one of the nation’s premier and most rigorously juried sporting art exhibitions. In 2009 the American Academy of Equine Art’s jury accepted two of his works to its Fall International Open Exhibition where from over 600 pieces of art submitted, only 80 pieces were accepted. His portrait of Big Brown was juried into the 2010 International Exhibit of Animals in Art at LSU where only 75 pieces were selected from 477 submitted. Most recently, he has been honored by being selected to create the official artwork for the 2011 Aiken Steeplechase.

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