Song Bird

Wednesday, June 27, 2007



These are two new pieces that I recently finished. They are both altered hymnals. One was given to me by my grandmother and one was given to me by my mother. I distressed the pages using sandpaper and inks then drew the bird imagery with a pen. The books are encased in shadow boxes behind twigs I found on walks through my neighborhood. Each book is 13" x 17" (in the shadow box).

Contact

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

If you have any questions or are interested in making a purchase or requesting a commission, please contact me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I accept PayPal, Cash, Cashiers Checks, and Money Orders. Thank you.

Studio Address:

Acme Art Studios
711 N. 5th Avenue
Wilmington, NC 28401

910-494-0690


leslie@lesliekpearson.com



MapQuest Directions to Acme

Dawn to Dawn, Journey's Through Pain to Freedom

Thursday, June 21, 2007


One of my paintings, Out of the Box, has been in a traveling exhibition since August 2006. The exhibition is currently at MIDLAND LUTHERAN COLLEGE in FREMONT, NEBRASKA for anyone who wants to check it out before it closes on July 1, 2007.
THE ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Mel Andrews, Sandra Bowden, Gerald Brommer, Leslie Caldera, Brandon Clark, Tom Clark, Anne England, Robert Eustace, Wayne Forte, Jan Florence Garven, George Geisler, Lalo Garcia, John Jones, Ingrid Klausen, Simon Kogan, Paul LaBerge, Mardie Rees, Ronald Lopez, Janice Lowry, Dayna Peterson Mason, Gary Mead, Richard Myer, Leslie Pearson, Deborah Scales, Leroy Schmaltz, Karen Schmidt, Judy Schroeder, Duncan Simcoe, Hilary Sylvester, Mary Helen Wagner, Denise Kufus Weyhrich, Heather Wright, James Quentin Young, Jane Zeiger, John Estrada Zender.
Check out Seeds Fine Art for more info., locations, etc.

Positive Art for Positive Women

Monday, June 18, 2007


I believe that visual art can transform the lives of those who make it and those who see it. Recently, I donated one of my paintings to the Women’s Health Center in Brooklyn, NY. Of the submissions received, some will be selected to be permanently installed in the WHC. Prior to being permanently placed, elected pieces will be put on exhibition and open for public viewing at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. Read more about the event in this article printed in The Advocate, (June 2007):

Housing Works hosts "Positive Art for Positive Women," in NYC

Event date: June 21, 2007 - June 24, 2007

In anticipation of the ribbon-cutting for its new Women's Health Center, Housing Works is hosting a reception for the art exhibition, "Positive Art for Positive Women." More than 50 works donated by visual artists, collectors, Housing Works supporters, and women living with HIV will be on display. There will be an online auction for several of the pieces.

Housing Works is the nation's largest grassroots AIDS organization dedicated to addressing the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness. The Women's Health Center is the only facility in New York state offering an array of services tailored to the needs of women living with HIV/AIDS.

The reception will be held 6–8 p.m. on Thursday, June 21, in New York City at the Housing Works Bookstore CafĂ©, 126 Crosby St. The exhibition will run through June 24. Admission is free. Computers will be available at the reception so attendees can bid in the online auction. For more information, visit Housing Works online.

City View Magazine Article

Thursday, June 14, 2007


Read the article about me in the June/July issue of City View Magazine.

Leslie Pearson
From Artist to Soldier & Back Again - By Shannon Ward

Overcoming limitations is a recurring theme in both the life and works of local artist Leslie Pearson. A painter who spent much of her young adulthood searching for a place to nurture the creative impulse, Pearson arrived in Fayetteville after her husband was stationed at Fort Bragg. They met while enlisted as photojournalists in the Army. Pearson had earned a bachelors degree from Southeast Missouri State University and a masters in museum studies from the University of Newcastle, but after graduation, she had difficulty finding a job.

“There were a lot of cutbacks in the arts when September 11 happened, and that forced me to into doing something else.” she said.

As a result, Pearson joined the Army. She said, “I couldn’t really do art because my first sergeant would come in for room inspection and say, ‘Get this crap cleaned up!’”

In spite of the limitations imposed by military life, Pearson views her stint in the Army as a positive experience. She said, “It not only challenged me physically and allowed me to pay off my student loans, but also allowed me to see that I was capable of doing something other than art as a career. I was a journalist, and I actually enjoyed it as a creative outlet. In a way, I let it go -- my art. I just kind of released it from my life, and afterward, when I got out of the Army, it really came back full force.”

In fact, one of the artist’s collections, Bird on a Wire, features four paintings that were inspired by Pearson’s memories of being a soldier:

“I would go out and stand in these rigid PT formations,” she said, “with my hands at parade rest. We couldn’t move. Then as the dawn was coming up, there would be these birds, so free, and one would just fly away. And I’d think, I want to be that bird. I want to be that bird so bad.”

Pearson’s enlistment ended in 2004, and she has since established herself as a professional artist. She also has expanded the original concept for Bird on a Wire to encompass not only her own quest for freedom, but also another recurring motif in her paintings: the struggle for women’s liberation. Pearson’s collection includes a series of five panels that depict the process of domesticating a bird and relate that process to historical attitudes regarding women. Pearson began the series after taking a walk through her neighborhood.

She said, “I saw this bird – so comfortable, perched in a branch, and I started thinking of how people lure birds to them and how the birds start to become tame. It’s almost like a trap -- first, you have the bird in its natural environment, and then you have it being lured, almost seduced, almost taking away its personality.”

The last panel in the series shows the bird perched on a human hand. Between the first and last panels, painted words connect the artist’s subject matter to the theme of women’s liberation.

“I found this text on the internet about different ways to tame a bird,” Pearson said, “and I thought, wow. This sounds exactly like some 1950s advice that a father would give his son on his wedding day: ‘Separate the bird you want to train so that she can focus on you as a companion rather than her housemate. Leave her in solitude so she can accustom herself to her new home. Younger birds are easier to tame. They have not become set in their ways and usually have not already been trained.’”

Pearson explained that she wanted “to look back at how far we’ve come as women, at that idea of a woman just going into a household, just being a wife and a mother and not having the advantages that we have today -- the opportunities, the choices, the options.”

Pearson often approaches the topic of women’s liberation by gaining inspiration for her paintings from poetry, music and literature -- particularly stories from the Bible.

“As I seek to understand myself and my role in the world,” she said, “I look for parallels between my life and the lives of other people. Currently, I’m working on a series of paintings illustrating Biblical themes. Much of the work so far focuses on women and reflects on the strength and perseverance they obtained through their lives and their spiritual journeys.”

Pearson works from her studio and teaches art at Fayetteville Christian School. The Pearson Gallery is open by appointment only and is located at 424 Dunmore Road. For more information, contact the artist at (910) 494-0690 or lesliepearson@mac.com. To see more images of Pearson’s work, go to www.amoveablefeast.us.

Arts Council of Wayne County

Tuesday, June 12, 2007





My paintings, Phoenix Rising and Pouring Out are in an exhibition at the Arts Council of Wayne County in Goldsboro, NC. The juror was Rebecca Jones, who was the Coordinator of Statewide Exhibition Programming for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond before becoming the director of Partners in the Arts in Richmond, VA. The photos below show the exterior of the building, uncrating the work and the exhibition reception, which was held June 8. The exhibition runs until July 27th.