Doris Marie Leeper

Doris "Doc" Leeper (April 4, 1929 – April 11, 2000) was an American sculptor and painter from New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She was instrumental in the creation of the Canaveral National Seashore in 1975, and the Spruce Creek Preserve, renamed the Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve in memoriam. She founded the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 1982. She was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1999.

Leeper was born on April 4, 1929, in Charlotte, North Carolina. She attended Duke University, originally intending to become a brain surgeon – the origin of her nickname "Doc." By 1961, she had become a full-time artist, specializing in painting and sculpture. Her work is in over 100 collections in the U.S. and abroad. She used her growing influence to advocate for the 1975 creation of the Canaveral National Seashore (CANA), which encompassed 58,000 acres including the barrier island and Mosquito Lagoon. Afterwards she was appointed to the Canaveral National Seashore Advisory Commission and founded Friends of Canaveral where she pushed for wilderness protection for the seashore.

Leeper conceived of the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 1977, envisioning it as a Florida artist-in-residence program in which artists of all disciplines could work with current prominent artists in a supportive and creative environment. Leeper saw the potential for an artist's residency as a place for ideas to be created, shared, and come into fruition. She soon persuaded friends and community members to join in her vision. In 1979, she convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to provide a challenge grant that soon was matched. This $25,000 in seed money was the unofficial inception of the ACA. When a prime piece of property became available on the shores of Turnbull Bay, a tidal estuary west of New Smyrna Beach, Leeper raised the $50,000 necessary to buy the ten-acre plot. Three years later, five main buildings were completed. Over the years, five more buildings were constructed and an additional 59 acres were purchased as preserve land.

The ACA officially opened in 1982

Leeper was awarded honorary doctorates from Duke and from Stetson University.

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