Remembering Leandro Della Piana, Jr.: Artist, educator, and activist

Leandro Anthony Della Piana, Jr., of Attleboro, Mass., and long-time Salt Lake City, Utah, resident, passed away on Aug. 13, 2024, at home in the company of his son Libero.

Leandro—also known as Junior, Lea, Lee, Pop, Della’s Husband, and Bebo’s Daddy—was born on Feb. 16, 1932, in East Boston, Mass., the youngest of nine siblings. He is the son of the late Leandro Antonio Della Piana, Sr., and Elisa (Savini) Della Piana.

Leandro was an accomplished sculptor and draftsman, an art educator, a set designer, an alchemist, and a life-long searcher for meaning and truth. He was a beloved father, uncle, and friend. He was famous for his hand-designed annual holiday cards.

Leandro grew up in his cherished East Boston before Logan Airport was built. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951-55 during the U.S. war in Korea. After his discharge, he served an apprenticeship in sculpture at the studio of Arcangelo Cascieri and Adio di Biccari in Boston. For ten years, he created sculptures for churches, cathedrals, and public spaces up and down the East Coast. He taught art sculpture classes to high school children in the Harvard-Boston Project in the mid-1960s, where he met his wife of 15 years, Gail (Barnette) Della Piana.

In the late 1960s, Leandro moved to Salt Lake City to develop a multidimensional creative project, incorporating sculpture for families to study reading motivation, with his brother Gabe. Gail followed him West, and their son Libero was born there. As an artist, Leandro held several gallery exhibits of his monumental wood carvings, low-relief contemporary cast images, and stylized human forms. Many of his sculptural forms were purchased by art lovers in Salt Lake City and are a part of collections in that city. He designed sets at Theater 138 and other performance spaces.

Over the years, he painted the faces of countless kids in the Children’s Art Yard at the Utah Arts Festivals with Lallapalooza, the ground-breaking children’s arts organization. Through Lallapalooza, he taught children art and designed creative projects. Leandro worked as an animator of Saturday morning cartoons in the 1980s, working for XAM! Productions, drawing storyboards for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk, and other series.

He was also involved in the lively punk and alternative music scenes in Salt Lake City, working at the Painted Word, a restaurant, art and performance space. In 1990, he illustrated the children’s book, Black Heroes of the Wild West, written by Ruth Pelz and published by Open Hand Publishing. His most visible sculpture is the sphinx at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, which he helped design and build.

Leandro was a dedicated social change activist. Because of his frustration with his childhood educational experience, Leandro was passionate about progressive educational reform. He was a vocal advocate for Head Start and Project Follow Through in public schools and a supporter of teachers’ unions. In the 1990s, he was a board member of JEDI Women, a grassroots welfare rights organization.

He joined the Joe Hill Club of the Communist Party USA and worked for peace, international solidarity, and labor rights. He participated in numerous marches, protests, and lobby visits in Utah and nationwide.

In 2002, Leandro moved back East to Attleboro, Mass., to be closer to his siblings and son. He joined Direct Action for Rights & Equality (DARE) in Providence, R.I., a grassroots organization for which his son previously worked. He delighted in making puppets and protest art for the organization. He enjoyed working in the nearby community garden, watching New England Patriots games, and continuing to make art.

Leandro was predeceased by his parents Leandro Antonio Della Piana, Sr., and Elisa (Savini) Della Piana, his sisters Rita (Della Piana) Daniels, Rose (Della Piana) Elliott, and Concetta Della Piana, and his brothers Fred Della Piana, Pat Della Piana, Ralph “Zoof” Della Piana, and Frank Della Piana.

Leandro is survived by his son, Libero Della Piana and his partner Judith LeBlanc, ex-wife Gail (Barnette) Della Piana, brother Gabriel Della Piana, sister-in-law Connie Kubo Della Piana, and dozens of nieces and nephews. Leandro’s artwork and writing will soon be featured on LeandroDellaPiana.com. The family held a small private service.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to People’s World.