Leslie Lambert

 Four Time Art Party Participant

Departure

Artist’s Website

www.leslielambert.com

Artist’s Statement

My 2-D and mixed media work includes drawing on paper, painting, collage and fiber art. The human figure dominates, whether whole, massed, fragmented or obscured. Revealed through energetic to subtle mark making, the human is immersed in a complex web. All manner of appearances are exposed from attractive to grotesque, and from sexy to aged and more.

Continuing to draw from life has been a longtime passion. Using minimal tools like a hand sharpened stick, permanent ink, liquid watercolor, and a few brushes, my process is spontaneous and intuitive. On small, hand torn papers, swoops and swirls of line and color are put down with intention yet a studied lack of control. One often has to search their way through a drawing, much like getting to know a good friend.

There is a direct relationship between the transforming image on the page and the moving person in front of me. There is no substitute; drawing the figure from a photograph is dead for me. A mentor at Arizona State University, Arthur Hahn, presented artistic anatomy based on detailed structural knowledge he gained from dissecting a cadaver. My solid grounding in the static detail of the human figure is transformed through a sense of motion and ambiguous intent.

While drawing was the emphasis of my degree, fiber arts is another passion. Weaving shows up in the overlapping shapes and intertwined lines that hold together the images. Veiled color immerses the figures and softens the marks to suggest movement and vitality.

New works that join drawing and fabric are an expression of my ancestral roots in Appalachian quilt making combined with Japanese textile techniques. I grew up in a thrifty household where handmade clothing and repurposing of objects was common. I find satisfaction in the reuse of fabric scraps, combining drawn images on paper with hand stitching in a patchwork of narrative expressions.