Friends of Willam R. Leach (Part I)

Willam R. Leach with his best friend James Shuit

James Shuit was a long time friend of William R. Leach, many stories of wonderful times where very special things happened, lots of laughter and outrageousness. William had many stories always laughing, probably never let a day go by without thinking of his best friend James Schuit. Schuit and he had a traffic accident in Mexico (on a bridge?) and the police came and took the vehicle they were driving, and left the two of them in the desert, they had to walk to town, not very near, and then it took them three days to track the vehicle down, and pay off the police, etc. William said that when they finally got into town he dis­covered he had been injured and blood was running down his face...of course the Mexican police were not interested in this, just in getting the vehicle so a price could be paid.

William R. Leach had a tremendous love for James Schuit and they shared many, many times in life together. The last few months William was alive he had Schuit's pictures of his new sculpture displayed on the end of his writing bed, where he could see them every day, and wrote at least one if not two letters but not had time to send them... and he thought about these letters for days/weeks, want­ing them to be so special before he sent them off...

~ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: James Schuit was born and raised in the African Congo where his parents served as missionaries. His first art teachers were the Wallendu tribe. From the tender age of five, when he went missing, his mother always knew that she would find him carving with the tribesmen.
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He did his undergraduate work at Columbia and Laturrot Bible College in North Carolina and he studied engineering at Letourneau University in Longview, Texas. As with many artists, James found himself making a living at something other than his main passion. His career took him into construction, architecture and design. He has built many homes which he embellished with his artistic talents. His work spans the gamut from construction, finish carpentry & furniture to wood or stone sculptures. His creations have the unique ability to express spirit of the environment for which they were created.
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After decades in construction, now that his children are grown, James has time to devote to his passion. He has been searching for a place that would inspire his art. He found that place on the Hawaiian island of Lana’i. The landscapes and culture are reminiscent of his idyllic youth in the Congo. Both cultures are similar in that the beauty of the earth is celebrated in the art of the native people. James’s work expresses that same deep reverence for the primitive earth and elicits strong feelings of simple emotions. Each creation has an essence that evokes one’s own visceral connections with the earth.
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SOURCE: www.creativecarver.com
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