Bio
Leslie Smith makes drawings, prints, and books based on her interest in mind, body, and the way we think about the self. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book, an MLS in Library Science, and an MA in Spanish and Latin American literature from UNC Chapel Hill. She is currently an artist-in-residence at Radford University in Radford, VA.
Artist's Statement
I use writing, drawing, printing, and papermaking to ask and answer questions. For me, imagery leads to writing and writing leads to imagery. For the last few years, I have been interested in the body and the mind. Curiosity has pushed me toward speculative questions. For example, what if emotions had a physical form? What would they look like? What if melancholy had a size, a shape, a color? I think melancholy would be harmless looking. It would be a pale blue seed that appears in the mind and then drifts softly down into the body, collecting on the surfaces. Through text, drawings and diagrams I create an answer. Currently, I am asking questions about nature as a teacher. What does nature teach the artist and how can we be more adept students?