Diana Leslie A Small Town
Self Portrait by the Window, oil on wood, 33.3 x 48.8 cms
Diana Leslie [b.1971] I was born in Orkney. I went to Glasgow School of Art and graduated in Drawing and Painting in 1998. My second subject was printmaking. Orkney stayed with me while I wasn’t here. So I came back in 2006 to live and work as an artist. Landscape has become a big subject for me. I paint Orkney outside. The wind and dynamic light are energies which make me happy; they fly by while the mass is going nowhere. I move between source material depending on the weather painting flowers, drawing from other artists, drawing from collaborations which make me see things differently (Christie Williamson in Arc O Mons). I’m not of the school of thought that believes Caravaggio would have loved Photoshop had it been around in his day because I think he probably loved his lapis lazuli paint and paint is fairly elemental. It hasn’t changed much in 500 years. Neither do I want painting to be old mastery. I’m content with the idea that if I represent my here and now it has some currency. And painting has a magical property. It can hold on to energy and strange things like freedom, even when the artist is long gone. But it also tells its own truth. If the artist is bored or complacent that will live on in the work, a bit Dorian Gray. So I paint on.
Hobbister, oil on wood, 36 x 55 cms
From Brinkie’s Brae, colograph print, 14.5 x 104 cms
Behind Bruces Stores, oil on wood, 24 x 34 cms
The Co Op, oil on wood, 24 x 35.5 cms
Stromness Post Office, oil on wood, 29.5 x 38 cms
The Garage on Junction Road, oil on wood, 19.7 x 24.6 cms
Waterfront Gallery, oil on wood, 30 x 40 cms
Yesnaby, oil on wood, 35 x 53 cms
The Sharon Rose And Her Sister Jean Elaine, oil on wood, 34.5 x 40 cms
The Waterfront, oil on wood, 29.5 x 39 cms
The Fountain at the Pier, oil on wood, 27 x 39 cms
Willock’s Shed, oil on wood, 39.6 x 39.5 cms
Oxeye Daisies, Wall Eyed Zebra, oil on wood, 40.7 x 35 cms
Diana Leslie [b.1971] Education 1998 Glasgow School of Art 2:1 Drawing and Painting Awards And Residencies 2015 Residency in North Ronaldsay awarded by Creative Scotland/ OIC 2012 –13 Island Gateway residency T.H.I Stromness 2008 Award from hi-arts to learn safe etching in Edinburgh Print Studio 2006 Travel Award from hi-arts to London 2002-2004 Research Scholarship from The Prince’s Drawing School 2001 The Cuthbert Prize, awarded by the R.G.I 2000 The Morrison’s Portrait Award Runner-up 1999 Three month residency at The School of Restoration And Conservation, Lytomysle, Czech Republic 1998 The Emmy Sachs Prize, awarded by Glasgow School of Art Solo Exhibitions 2016 2015 2014 2012 2011 2011 2009 2008 2008 2006 2005 2004 1999 1999
A Small Town, The Scottish Gallery Windows Are Eyes, Northlight, Stromness Pitch, Northlight, Stromness The Lion’s Teeth, Northlight , Stromness Portrait Of An Alter Ego, Wool and Wine Hill and Voe, The Pier Arts Centre Arc O Möns, The Brae Gallery, Stromness Black Thunder, The Loft, Orkney The Rake’s Progress, Porteous Brae Gallery, Orkney A Short Lived Moment Nearly, The Orkney Gallery, Orkney From Where I’m Standing, The Reel, Orkney Next Tuesday, The Compass Gallery, Glasgow One Too Many, Glasgow Project Rooms Of My Legs, Site specific locations around Glasgow
Group Exhibitions 2015 , 2013 Open Windows, Stromness 2014 Rhythms Of Land And Sea, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2014 What Seas, What Shores, Da Gadderie, Shetland 2012 Street Shapes, Orkney Library,The Commercial Hotel. An Island Gateway Project 2010 Book Stone Voe, Northlight Studio, Stromness Art @ Lunch @ The Science Festival, The Peedie Kirk, Stromness To Be, Northlight Studio Stromness 2007 Shrine, Site Specific Installation, Stromness Exhibition Of Artist’s Books, Porteous Brae Gallery, Orkney Joint Exhibition Of Drawings, Edinburgh College of Art, Alberto Vuillard Gallery, London Tent, Untitled Exhibition Fourth Barrier, Stromness 2006 Discerning Eye, The Mall Galleries invited artist supported with an 2005 London Calling, Mansfield Gallery, Glasgow 2004 Drawing on London, Art Space, London The Jerwood Drawing Prize, The Jerwood Space, London The B.P Portrait Award, The National Portrait Gallery, London 2000 This Never Really Happened, The Arlington Baths, Glasgow 2000 The Eighth Scottish Drawing Prize, Paisley Art Institute, Paisley 1999 The Body Is Still A Good Read, The Pentagon, Glasgow 1999 The S.S.A., Scottish Royal Academy Artist’s Statement My landscape is made up of people and places I inhabit. I chose to return to Orkney. The landscape resonates with me. I discover it as I paint it. Publications 2012 Street Shapes, A collaboration with the poems of Morag McInnes 2011 All things Seem Possible In May, A Hansel publication with Robin Bownass and Colin Jonstone. 2009 Arc O Mons, A Hansel collaboration with Christie Williamson