Artist: Leslie Pearson of Leland, North Carolina, USA
Interview 91
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Interviews published by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman.
Biography
Leslie Pearson is a multimedia artist who utilizes many fibre-based materials, processes and techniques to create sculptures, installations, encaustic paintings and handmade books, in which she explores themes of memory and identity. She pursues art as a studio artist, community arts advocate and educator. In 1998 she earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art from Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri and was heavily involved in community arts programming as the Assistant Director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and co-curator of Gallery 100 and the Lorimier Gallery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In 2000 she earned a Master's degree in Museum Studies at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England and completed an internship at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland, England.
In 2011, she earned an MFA in Textile Design at East Carolina University's School of Art and Design in Greenville, North Carolina, USA where she taught textile classes and worked as a studio assistant in the textile department. Currently she teaches painting, design and art appreciation classes at Brunswick Community College in Bolivia, North Carolina, USA and exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Leslie's website.
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Artist: Leslie Pearson. |
Tell us about your work?
My work is an investigation into memory, identity and the transformative value of communication. I use narrative therapy approaches such as letter writing, journaling, and story telling as a starting point to visually express both lived and imagined experiences. I create pieces in response to new challenges, environments and relationships. As a multimedia artist my material choices and processes vary with each new body of work.
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"Cells", Gut, wire, photos on paper, 144" x 48" x 4" (depth), 2012. |
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Detail: "Cells", Gut, wire, photos on paper, 144" x 48" x 4" (depth), 2012. |
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Detail: "Cells", Gut, wire, photos on paper, 144" x 48" x 4" (depth), 2012. |
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Detail: "Cells", Gut, wire, photos on paper, 144" x 48" x 4" (depth), 2012. |
From where do you get your inspiration?
Visually I'm inspired by objects that have layers of history. Be it handwritten letters, books, rusty hinges, old stamps, buttons, teeth, animal bones, or bits of fabric. My studio is filled with little things that I've collected or unearthed. I'm a scavenger for the lost or forgotten things that have built up interesting textures, colours, and surfaces. My work is also indirectly informed by the natural world. I tend to lean toward pod, seed, nest, egg, shell and other organic forms - mostly for the metaphor they hold as keepers, protectors and incubators. Conceptually I'm inspired by relationships and in people's stories and the stories behind the stories. To know more about other people and the things they've gone through and have overcome, adds a rich patina to life. I'm also interested in how personal and collective memory shapes identity.
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"Given and Received", Mixed media installation with handmade components, 81" x 20" x 25, 2010. |
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Detail: "Given and Received", Mixed media installation with handmade components, 81" x 20" x 25, 2010. Handmade/painted wooden book display, weaving, handmade collaged book with cross stitch binding and handsewn/dyed leather cover, digitally printed silk with free motion stitching, handmade beeswax candles. |
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Detail: "Given and Received", Mixed media installation with handmade components, 81" x 20" x 25, 2010. Handmade/painted wooden book display, weaving, handmade collaged book with cross stitch binding and handsewn/dyed leather cover, digitally printed silk with free motion stitching, handmade beeswax candles. |
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"Of Heaven and Earth", Paper, encaustic and fabric on panel, 12" x 12", 2012 |
What other mediums do you work in, and how does this inform your fibre work?
I'm constantly exploring new materials and ways to express my ideas visually. I'm always expanding my toolbox to include new ways of working. Nearly everything I make has several components but I always seem to incorporate fibre materials, processes and techniques. For example, I embed printed and hand dyed fabric and paper into my encaustic paintings. I usually include rusted silk organza as a layer between coats of wax. I make hand bound books with sewn fabric and leather covers that are filled with distressed papers and sometimes sewn collage elements. I also create sculptural wire forms and wall installations that I cover with sausage casings (hog gut). In some instances such as in my piece Tell Me Your Secrets and I'll Tell You Mine, I've combined written text, fabric, and encaustics with these hog covered wire forms. All of my work tends to revolve around recurring themes. The colours, textures, and rich layers also become a unifying factor.
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"Incubation", Multimedia installation. Wire, gut, digitally printed tissue paper, audio component. 2011. |
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Detail: "Incubation", Multimedia installation. Wire, gut, digitally printed tissue paper, audio component. 2011. |
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Detail: "Incubation", Multimedia installation. Wire, gut, digitally printed tissue paper, audio component. 2011. |
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Detail: "Incubation", Multimedia installation. Wire, gut, digitally printed tissue paper, audio component. 2011. |
What bridges the works that you have created in differing media?
The concept behind each of my pieces is what informs the material choices and processes I will employ to carry out the idea visually. I always start with an idea and then I think about what materials I should use to birth the idea into fruition.
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"Lines and Lives that Intersect #2", encaustic (pigmented wax and resin), and fabric on panel, 36" x 24", 2012. |
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Detail: "Lines and Lives that Intersect #2", encaustic (pigmented wax and resin), and fabric on panel, 36" x 24", 2012. |
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"Nasar", digitally printed fabric, vinyl (distressed), ink, embroidery floss, (approx. 400 hours of hand-stitching), 108" x 36", 2009. |
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Detail: "Nasar", digitally printed fabric, vinyl (distressed), ink, embroidery floss, (approx. 400 hours of hand-stitching), 108" x 36", 2009. |
What specific historic artists have influenced your work?
I've always been interested in Louise Bourgeois (1911- 2010, French-American artist). The autobiographical and narrative nature of her work, pervasive themes and wide range of material use truly resonate with me. She dedicated her entire life to her work and left the world quite an amazing legacy.
The organic nature of American process artist Eva Hesse's (1936-1970) work also interests me. I can just imagine her in her studio exploring non-traditional materials such as rubber, latex and fiberglass to create forms that take on the look of skin and mimic the human body. She once said: "For me, being an artist means to see, to observe, to investigate. It means trying to understand and portray people, their emotions, their strengths and faults." I can relate to this philosophy.
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"Nasar" in process. |
What specific contemporary artists have influenced your work?
I recently discovered the work of Portland, Oregon artist Brenda Mallory who creates large sculptural wall pieces and installations using waxed cloth, hardware, welded steel, and other materials. Her forms are really intriguing and beautiful in a way that is complex yet restful.
California based encaustic artist Lisa Kairos uses rich layers in her paintings to explore themes of complexity, memory and sensory experience through the subject of landscape.
I'm enthralled by Michigan based sculptor and mixed media artist Elaine K. Ng, whose delicate ceramic multiples express the concepts of impermanence, transition and the uncomfortable space between destinations.
I absolutely salivate over the work of Jody Alexander. She is an artist, bookbinder, papermaker, librarian and teacher who lives and works in Santa Cruz, California. Her sculptural, altered books and use of found objects keep me lingering and looking and wanting to see even more.
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"Orifices", Wire, hog casings, 36" x 36" x 15", 2012. |
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Detail: "Orifices", Wire, hog casings, 36" x 36" x 15", 2012. |
Tell us about your training, how it has influenced you and how you have applied what you have learnt.
I pursued painting during my undergraduate studies and continued on with that for years working mostly in oils. Eventually my paintings started becoming more dimensional and I was pushing scale and using found materials or paper to create textures. When I decided to go to graduate school at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, I went into the painting program but was placed in a studio space with three fibre artists. I was instantly seduced by the endless possibilities of fibre materials and processes. It didn't take long for me to see how my work was changing and being influenced by the new things I was seeing around me. It was as if I had found a place where I could be a painter, a sculptor and an installation artist all within the broad context of "fibre art". It was during that time that I first discovered wax, stiffening agents, felt, dimensional weaving, book making, sewing, stitching, screen printing, dying and the use of alternative materials such as hog gut. By the second semester I switched my concentration to textiles and jumped in head-first. Since I didn't have a background in fibres, I wasn't sure of what could or couldn't be done so I just tried it all. I sewed on paper, I waxed fabric, I stretched gut, I stitched on everything and I made huge felted dimensional pieces. I wasn't afraid to try anything. This open attitude toward exploration continues to be at the forefront of my creative process.
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"Prayer", 15, ten foot hanging banners, screenprinting ink, photocopied journal entries, wire, sewn fabric, 10 x 12 x 8 ft, 2009. |
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Detail: "Prayer", 15, ten foot hanging banners, screenprinting ink, photocopied journal entries, wire, sewn fabric, 10 x 12 x 8 ft, 2009. |
Please explain how you developed your own style.
Over the years my style has evolved and will probably continue to evolve as I grow as a person and encounter new experiences in life. As I add more knowledge of tools and materials to my repertoire, I embrace the description of "multimedia artist" because it allows me to continue exploring all avenues of expression. For example, I have made sewn soft sculptures with embedded sound components and I have created many time-lapse videos to document the actual process of making a new piece. I've made large scale fibre based installations with video components and I've made books using etched metal. These pieces are all unified by the concepts of memory, identity, relationships and ways of communicating. I work with a colour palette of earth tones - burnt sienna, warm grays, browns, tans and greens. I choose materials such as wax, wire and gut because of their visceral quality and I work with fibre-based materials because there are so many ways to manipulate them, create three-dimensional forms or to completely transform an entire space.
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Process shot - wire working in creation of Incubation |
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Process shot - wire working in creation of Incubation. |
How did you initially start showing your work in galleries and do you find it more difficult to show and sell your work than non-fibre artists?
I started showing my work in galleries as early as 1998, while working on my undergraduate studies. My focus at the time was in painting so it was certainly easier to pack and ship work to galleries than some of the fragile sculptural forms, installations and fibre based work I do now. The problem back then had more to do with the costs of shipping and entry fees to juried exhibitions. For a student it was expensive. Now I'm more concerned with how my work will look if someone else attempts to install it; or if something will become damaged during transportation to or from a space. Fibre work usually needs to be steamed or ironed and handled gently. I've worked in galleries off and on for years and I know the time constraints and storage issues which galleries and museums have to deal with. I try to do my best to do my own deliveries and installations but other times I have to rely on giving detailed instructions and trusting other people to handle my work with care. My encaustic work is also somewhat delicate because of how the wax reacts to certain temperatures, but for the most part, they are the easiest to send to galleries.
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Process shot - wire working in creation of Incubation. |
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Process shot - wire working in creation of Incubation. |
What is your philosophy about the Art that you create?
To me it's important that the art I create comes from an authentic place within myself. As an artist I'm constantly asking myself questions and thinking about what it is that's driving me to make new work. I'm always looking for a better understanding of who I am and what influence or impact my life has on other people. I'm aware that my work is my voice in this world so I want it to count. I think that's why I continue to push myself to explore new materials. There are many ways to express an idea and I want to make the right choice in terms of the media I use.
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"Tell Me Your Secrets and I'll Tell You Mine", wire, gut, wax, paper, and rusted silk, 42" H x 80" W x 6" D, 2012. |
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Detail: "Tell Me Your Secrets and I'll Tell You Mine", wire, gut, wax, paper, and rusted silk, 42" H x 80" W x 6" D, 2012. |
What do you consider to be the key factors to a successful career as an artist?
To be successful, an artist is expected to wear many hats: maker, marketer, website manager, blogger, writer, researcher, teacher and social networker. Determination, discipline and passion are very important, because there are times when things aren't going right in the studio and you have to remind yourself that it is important to push through and keep going. Making time to work and think is extremely important. I start my mornings with prayer, meditation, reading and journaling. My written words often morph into sketches and diagrams for new work and I start to visualize how these pieces will be carried out and how they will look in the end. I give myself time to process and work through projects in my mind before I go into the studio. I tend to lean toward arduous techniques that allow me to think and reflect while I'm working. It's very cathartic.
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Studio Shot. |
Tell us about your studio and how you work:
I'm very fortunate to have a spacious 1,100 sq ft studio at home. I have track lighting to illuminate the walls, which I use as a gallery space, as well as task lighting over several tables that I have set up to work at. I also get a lot of natural light from the sliding glass doors, which open up to a beautiful view of the Brunswick River. When the weather is nice I take my encaustics outside on the concrete pad in front of my studio. I get plenty of ventilation and I'm able to watch the Ospreys and Blue Herons perch on the pier. I spend a lot of time in my studio and I usually work on multiple things at once so I like to keep it organized and tidy. I have tables set up in stations or designated work areas. For example I have a sewing table with my sewing machine and needlework supplies. I have a bookmaking table with loads of distressed papers and wood for making book covers. I have an encaustic table on wheels and other tables I use for doing experiments. My office is also in a nook under the stairs leading down to my studio. This is where I do all of my research, website updates, blog postings, gallery submissions and other administrative tasks. I also have a comfortable conversation area set up to meet with people when they visit my studio.
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"Triangulum", Encaustic (pigmented wax and resin), and paper on panel, 6" x 8", 2012. |
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"Vignettes of a Family", (View 1) Digitally collaged photographs on cotton muslin, hand embroidered and machine stitched, dyed silk organza, stiffened yarn, 2011. |
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"Vignettes of a Family", (Digitally collaged photographs on cotton muslin, hand embroidered and machine stitched, dyed silk organza, stiffened yarn, 2011. |
Where do you imagine your work in five years?
In five years I hope to be doing everything I do now only more of it - making and selling work of substance, traveling, teaching and lecturing, giving workshops, demonstrations and presentations. I'd like to arrive at the place where my work is more widely recognized and of course, collected.
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"Vignettes of a Family", (detail) Digitally collaged photographs on cotton muslin, hand embroidered and machine stitched, dyed silk organza, stiffened yarn, 2011. |
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"Vignettes of a Family", (detail) Digitally collaged photographs on cotton muslin, hand embroidered and machine stitched, dyed silk organza, stiffened yarn, 2011. |
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Detail: "Vignettes of a Family", (View 1) Digitally collaged photographs on cotton muslin, hand embroidered and machine stitched, dyed silk organza, stiffened yarn, 2011. |
What interests you about the World of Threads festival?
The World of Threads Festival is such an amazing opportunity for artists working in fibre. To see so many talented people coming together in the exploration of materials and ideas is exciting and inspiring. The website is particularly essential because it allows for an international audience and acts as a visual record of the current trends and major players in the fibre arts community.
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"We Made a World of Our Own", Multimedia installation with handmade components, 246" x 192" x 144", 2010, installation consists of a handmade weaving, machine sewn fabric house with free motion stitching, machine sewn clothing with digital collages on fabric and free motion stitching, and a video component. |
Is there anything else you would like us to know about you or your artwork, which we have not covered?
I was awarded a 2013 Regional Artist Project Grant by the North Carolina Arts Council in support of the creation of new work.
My work was featured in a 6-page, full colour article by Nancy LaFever in the March 2013 edition of The Craft Report Magazine.
My work was selected to be included in an upcoming ebook by Linda Womack called: Embracing Encaustic: Learning to Paint with Beeswax.
My handmade book titled Bottled Up Emotions was selected for inclusion in the upcoming Lark Crafts publication - 500 Handmade Books Volume 2 (in bookstores Sept. 2013).
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Detail: "We Made a World of Our Own", Multimedia installation with handmade components, 246" x 192" x 144", 2010, installation consists of a handmade weaving, machine sewn fabric house with free motion stitching, machine sewn clothing with digital collages on fabric and free motion stitching, and a video component. |
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