TheColumbia Valley - Columbia Valley Pioneer

December 22, 2006
The Columbia Valley Pioneer • 13
Village Arts provides venue for local talent
Continued from Page 12
All three will attest that glass isn’t the easiest of
materials to work with. It takes patience to become
adept at kiln casting, fusing and lampwork. There are
mishaps, and experiments that fail.
Leslie’s studio contains three kilns and countless
sheets of glass. Her techniques include fusing, casting,
cutting, polishing, engraving and painting. She sculpts
her three-dimensional glass works in a medium such
as clay or wax, and then moulds them with polyurethane.
The empty mould is filled with pieces of glass
and fired in a kiln for ten days. Each piece is unique.
Leslie and Melanie got most of their training at
the renowned Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle.
They are invited back every spring, to teach.
The sisters will further attest that technical knowhow
is useless without artistic vision.
Much of Leslie’s work venerates the mountains
and forests she loves. But some of her most interesting
pieces—the kind that get you thinking—are inspired
by the complex and ever-changing lives of women.
Last summer the sculpture titled Inside Myself took
first prize at the B.C. Glass Art Association juried glass
show in Vancouver.
“It’s about the journey we women take through
life,” Leslie says of the stunning sculpture. “It’s about
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the roads we travel and the need we all have to look
inward.”
Another non-functional sculpture (an ornamental
as opposed to practical work) took second prize at the
international juried glass show in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Leslie is so prolific she can’t recall the sculpture’s
title.
Twins and trios are a recurring theme in her
work—a deeply personal metaphor. The fused glass
panel titled Three Sisters, which hangs proudly in
her house, pays homage both to the mountains of the
same name and to her beloved sisters.
Summer 2007 is shaping up to be a heady time for
Leslie. She and potter Alice Hale, mixed-media artist
Lynne Grillmair and bronze sculptor Pat Luders
are set to mount an ambitious four-woman show at
Pynelogs Cultural Centre.
“We have submitted our concept,” says Leslie, referring
to the recent call for entries.
“We hope it will be accepted. I am thrilled by the
prospect of working with these talented women. We’re
all well traveled. We’ve all got things to share. It will
be great.”
The show, called Integration Collaboration, will
be “all about textures.” Leslie anticipates contributing
15 pieces to the show. That’s a busy year.
And, she and Melanie have been invited to teach
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next August at the world-renowned Museum of Glass
in Corning, New York. “It was such an honour to be
asked. It’s exciting for both of us.”
In the meantime, she is completing a commissioned
work and helping, as always, to arrange the
displays at Village Arts. She is one of 57 artists in the
co-op. “It’s an amazing group of people, and we’re always
looking for new local artists.”
Village Arts was founded in 1983 by a group of
local artists and crafts people, as a permanent marketplace
for high-quality work.
It is a non-profit organization supported through
a commission structure. It relies on volunteers, including
a board of directors and the folks who staff
the store.
Which brings me to a suggestion. I’ve had a lifelong
policy of buying from local artists. It’s a good
policy. If you’re still Christmas shopping, drop by Village
Arts this holiday season.
Visit all the galleries and shops that sell the work
of valley artists, and take some of that work away with
you.
Artists show us the beauty of our surroundings in
ways we couldn’t have imagined. They give form to
our cherished customs and traditions. The work they
leave behind tells future generations not only what we
did but what it meant to us.
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