ESPERANZA LEON
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, and raised in East Hampton, NY, Esperanza León studied in Toronto, attending secondary school at Havergal College and receiving a BA in Art History, from the University of Toronto in 1995. She then relocated to Venezuela to pursue museum studies and develop cultural and visual arts projects while working at museums and theatres. For over 20 years Esperanza has promoted contemporary and emergent art focusing on artists of Latin American background. She has organized over 70 exhibitions and written for print and online publications and catalogues. In 2009 she collaborated on the exhibition and catalogue for "Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis" at El Museo del Barrio, New York. In 2011 she was guest curator for "Rafael Ferrer: Contrabando" at Guild Hall of East Hampton, contributing an essay to the accompanying catalogue. That same year she guest-curated the 44th Annual Springs Invitational exhibition at Ashawagh Hall in Springs, East Hampton. From 2008 and 2015, Esperanza assisted artist and master printmaker Dan Welden with Hampton Editions, LTD., a print workshop specializing in Solarplate etching. She has worked with Roy Nicholson since 2010 to archive his artistic production spanning over 50 years, and books and art collected by him and his wife Helen A. Harrison. Esperanza has been a member of ArtTable, an organization for professional women in the arts, since 2006.
Esperanza has consistently collaborated at a broader level with local organizations and schools to connect the community through art and culture. She was a founding member in 2004 of OLA of Eastern Long Island and from 2007-2022 served as a Trustee of the Board at Guild Hall of East Hampton, heading the Education Committee. Guided by her emphasis on education through the arts, Esperanza worked at the Victor D’Amico Institute of Art, Amagansett from 2017 to 2021. During this time, she was instrumental in obtaining local historical landmark designation for the institute’s structures and achieving membership in the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Esperanza served on East Hampton Town's Architectural Review Board from 2019 throws 2023, from 2021 as Vice Chair. In this capacity, she has endeavored to preserve the historical, rural essence of the town and in 2021 formed part of a team of Wainscott residents that saved a Black migrant workers’ cottage from demolition, today the 501(c)(3) Wainscott Heritage Project. She is currently head of Education at LongHouse Reserve.