Cheryll Leo-Gwin

Cheryll Leo-Gwin was born in Canada during the simultaneous US Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) and Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act (1923-1947) that forbid Chinese immigration for decades in both countries. American and Canadian by birthright, being Chinese, Cheryll was denied US citizenship until the end of WWII. Growing up she experienced discrimination; denied jobs, housing, and educational choices until the 1964 Civil Rights act.  

With an MFA in metal design from the UW she taught at California State University Long Beach, Seattle College, and the University of Washington. She worked for over a decade as an arts administrator at Bellevue College where she created teaching jobs for artists in visual, literary and performing arts. While a single mother she created cultural exchanges in the US and China for artists and educators. Her art has been shown around the US, China, and the UK. That work most recently has evolved into multi-media. Her 2025 8-episode podcast Lost Underground features forbidden stories from China’s Cultural revolution. It is found at Storyboardsnw.org and on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and PodBean.  

Cheryll’s awards include but not limited to: 2025 Arts WA Humanities grant, Artist Trust GAP Grants (1990, 2014 & 2016), Bellevue Arts Commission Projects Grants (2010-11), 4Culture Special Projects (1988, 90, 2007-08, 2022-03) and Ford Foundation Grant.  

She is currently working on a visual podcast docudrama combining the findings from an archaeological dig in Rock Springs WY with spoken poetry and digital visuals developed with her creative team of writers, artists, videographers and her director.