1956–2022 · A tribute by Nova Hall
In memory of Leandro Soto
Artist, teacher, mentor and friend. Remembering the encouragement that helped shape the Flying Over Time Collection and its educational mission.
Nova Hall remembers
A teacher who saw possibility
In 2009, while studying at Arizona State University, Nova Hall enrolled in a drawing course taught by Leandro Soto. Soto recognized a visual vocabulary in Hall that reached back to his early photography studies at the Verde Valley School in Sedona. He encouraged Hall to bring that way of seeing into his family’s story. For Hall, Soto became a teacher, a mentor and a friend. His guidance helped turn the photographs and engineering records of Donald A. Hall Sr. into a new body of contemporary art—and helped set Flying Over Time on its path.
Turning the archive into art
When Hall showed Soto his published book, Spirit & Creator, Soto saw more than a finished account of aviation history. He saw material for a different kind of storytelling.
Soto encouraged Hall to study Robert Rauschenberg’s mixed-media work and Willem de Kooning’s expressive painting. Then came an unexpected assignment: tear pages from his own book and use them as material for the canvas.
Hall remembers that process as cathartic. Working with the pages loosened the boundary between historical research and personal expression. Original images of his grandfather’s work on the Spirit of St. Louis could sit beside vivid acrylics, layered marks and the emotions the archive brought forward.
Under Soto’s mentorship, those experiments became the Flying Over Time Collection.
From the studio to Flying Over Time
Soto encouraged Hall to share the emerging work beyond the classroom. Hall’s exhibit was selected best in the arts category at ASU’s 2009 Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects Expo. That September, Flying Over Time was presented at the university’s West campus.
The collection grew into a traveling exhibition. Soto’s influence also reached Hall’s writing and performance, including the one-act production The Man Behind the Spirit.
In Hall’s remembrance, the support of ASU’s academic community—including Assistant Dean Monica Casper, who became the organization’s inaugural chairwoman—helped turn the exhibition’s educational purpose into the Flying Over Time nonprofit in 2011.
Soto’s lasting contribution was the attention he gave a student: seeing a possibility, setting a demanding assignment and helping that student follow the work into public life.
A legacy carried forward
Leandro Soto (1956–2022) worked across painting, installation, performance and theater design. Born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, he was part of the generation associated with the 1981 Volumen Uno exhibition and the development of contemporary Cuban art. His practice brought art into conversation with ritual, memory and community. Teaching was part of that work. In Mexico, he founded El Tesoro de Tamulté, an art school for children of the Maya-Chontal community, and he taught in the United States and abroad. The University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection preserves the Leandro Soto papers, including theater designs, drawings, photographs and other records of his creative life. For Hall, that wider legacy remains personal. It lives in the work Soto helped him begin, in the collection they brought into view, and in Flying Over Time’s commitment to opening possibilities through art, history and education.
En español
En memoria de Leandro Soto
Un recuerdo de Nova Hall
En 2009, mientras estudiaba en la Universidad Estatal de Arizona, Nova Hall se inscribió en un curso de dibujo impartido por Leandro Soto. Soto reconoció una sensibilidad visual que Hall había empezado a desarrollar años antes, en sus estudios de fotografía en la Verde Valley School de Sedona. Lo animó a conectar esa mirada con la historia de su familia.
Cuando Hall le presentó su libro Spirit & Creator, Soto vio algo más que un relato terminado. Le propuso estudiar la técnica mixta de Robert Rauschenberg y la pintura expresiva de Willem de Kooning. Después llegó una tarea inesperada: arrancar páginas de su propio libro y utilizarlas como material para pintar.
Para Hall, el proceso fue catártico. Las fotografías y los documentos relacionados con su abuelo, Donald A. Hall Sr., podían convivir con el color, los trazos y la emoción. De esos experimentos, guiados por Soto, nació la Colección Flying Over Time.
Soto lo animó a compartir su trabajo fuera del aula. La exposición de Hall fue reconocida como la mejor en la categoría de artes en la muestra de investigación y proyectos creativos de ASU de 2009. Con el tiempo, la colección se convirtió en una exposición itinerante. La influencia de Soto también llegó a la escritura y al teatro de Hall, incluida la obra de un acto The Man Behind the Spirit.
El apoyo de la comunidad universitaria ayudó a convertir esa labor educativa en la organización sin fines de lucro Flying Over Time, fundada en 2011. Monica Casper fue su presidenta inaugural.
Leandro Soto fue artista, maestro, mentor y amigo. Su legado continúa en las obras que ayudó a hacer posibles y en la misión educativa de Flying Over Time. Lo recordamos por su capacidad de ver posibilidades en otra persona y acompañarla mientras encontraba su propia voz.
Explore his legacy
This tribute is adapted from Nova Hall’s memorial, Leandro Soto Memorial and Flying Over Time. The photographs were provided for this remembrance.
- Explore the Leandro Soto Papers finding aid from the University of Miami Libraries (PDF) (opens in a new tab).
- Read ASU’s original 2009 Flying Over Time exhibition coverage (opens in a new tab).
- View work from the Leandro Soto Papers in the University of Miami Digital Collections (opens in a new tab).
The work continues
Explore the art that grew from this mentorship and the organization carrying its educational purpose forward.