Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Strain Wilson.
Hi Leslie Strain Wilson, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As a child and adolescent, I was introduced to interior design by my mother.
She sold carpet from a home office and I was constantly surrounded by carpet samples and clients’ fabrics. This was the start of my fascination with pattern, color and texture.
My work is embellished silkscreen prints on both paper (small pieces) and fabric (larger pieces).
I start with color inspiration from interior design / fabric magazines, develop a color palette and then select a screen or screens to print with. Once I am happy with the overall composition and color balance, I embellish the piece with my Bernina sewing machine.
I believe that I have developed my own process and although there are many textile artists my work is unique.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I would say that my journey has been fairly smooth but the road has been much longer and more winding than I could ever have imagined.
When I left college, I just assumed that because my work had been well received by my teachers and peers, it would automatically be welcomed by a wider audience.
Over time I have come to appreciate that to be successful you have to create both work and an audience to appreciate it.
The former has always come easily to me but the latter is something that builds very slowly, one piece, one show, one commission and one sale at a time.
Finding representation was not easy and it was on the back of a show in 2017 that I was fortunate to be selected for an artist intern program by Anne Irwin (Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta, GA). This gave me representation, a wider audience and most importantly access to other artists. No one can make it on their own. I was recommended to LaFontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, MI by an artist I met through the intern program and I hope that I will find similar opportunities following the artist residency I attended this summer at Baer Art Center in Iceland.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work is embellished silkscreen prints on both paper (small pieces) and fabric (larger pieces). See Home Page & “My Process” at www.lesliewilsonart.com
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Try to create something every day, this will refine your technique and make you more efficient. Also, leverage any relationship you might have, school, friends, chance introductions, etc. As I noted before, No-one can make it on their own.
Most importantly, be confident. What you create can never be made by someone else.
Pricing:
- Paper Pieces- $500-$1,000.
- Fabric / Linen – $1,000 – $4,000.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lesliewilsonart.com/
- Instagram: @lesliewilson_art
- Facebook: lesliewilson_art
