Leon Grodski de Barrera
After growing up on the road in New York, Florida and Michigan, Leon Grodski de Barrera earned his B.A. in Philosophy and Literature from Binghamton University and his M.A. in English Education from Columbia University. In 1996 he spent one year living in Cologne, Germany, where he discovered Dada, frequented Museum Ludwig, assembled collages, learned the invigoration of total immersion in the foreign and how to sleep in a train or park. In 1998, he lived in Paris, France and spent his days at the movies and his nights at Café Cithea. Upon his return to New York, Leon began working in the multimedia industry. In September, 2001 Leon created The Sushi Bar to join his work as a producer and as an artist. Under the title The Sushi Bar, Grodski de Barrera creates artworks, writes and produces installations and films for other artists. After a stint as an artist in residence at Western Carolina University in 2003 he opened Tribal Grounds Coffee with his then partner, which he ran through September 2010, and founded LIFT Contemporary a non-profit arts organization on the Qualla Boundary, for which he still serves on the board.
In December, 2010, Leon and his wife Areli founded Cocoa Cinnamon in order to offer coffee, chocolate, tea and spice pleasure and make daily steps to use commerce to create the world in which they want to live.
As part of Cocoa Cinnamon, they will be launching bikeCOFFEE, a mobile espresso bike, in Durham this summer!
They live in the Central Park District, Durham.
http://twitter.com/susheebar
http://cocoacinnamon.com
http://twitter.com/cocoacinnamon
http://bikecoffee.net
http://twitter.com/bikeCOFFEEdrm
