Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Giuliani.
Leslie, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I come from a family of artists: my mother, my grandfather, my uncles and my aunt and my cousins. My brother, the amazing Latin jazz composer, arranger and performer, Michael Phillip Mossman, drew until music became his priority. My sister Jan drew too, although she’ll rarely admit it. Everyone was drawing all the time. (My dad played electronic music, the weird Theremin, which is not touched while playing.) It was unseemly not to be able to draw and unthinkable (and disgraceful) not to make all cards for all occasions. My commercial sign painter grandfather made banners for our birthdays. It wasn’t just for art’s sake, it was for fun and for basic communication.
It never occurred to me to use color with any regularity until my 30’s. (Then I went color MAD!) Perspective, to me, was overrated. Flat was where it was at. I loved the compressed space of medieval art, the formality of classicism and the immediacy of ancient art. Distortion seemed essential. Realism? Why not just take a picture? Simple iconic forms, to me, had the most power. They were understandable to everyone but not interpreted the same way by anyone.
For my kid, professional cartoonist and graphic novelist, Mady G, drawing was essential. As soon as Mady could hold a pencil, they* could literally not bear to be without drawing materials. Drawing was and is their ultimate comfort. I still remember Mady drawing all the way through their grandfather’s funeral at age 5 – little, tearful kittens. Mady draws their life and passions, I draw with a decorative graphic focus and my mom has the most beautiful line since Matisse-I believe she can draw anything.
I can’t image how people manage to communicate or socialize without the naturally expressive tool of drawing. But of course they do, but not us, not our family.
*Mady is Gender Fluid and their pronoun is “they”.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I have done handwork since childhood. I hook, sew, embroider, print and paint, often sharing imagery between the media. An improvisational narrative theme runs through my work.
My first encaustic (hot wax) paintings had the look of painted wooden crazy quilts. Carved and painted wood blocks were all joined together in irregular free-form shapes. One of these paintings can be seen at the Federal Courthouse in Stamford, CT.
I began hooking cut, dyed woolen strips into primitive rugs around 25 years ago and have been a “hooker” ever since, receiving an Artist Fellowship Grant from the state of CT for Craft. Five of my rugs were commissioned by Rolling Stone, Keith Richards and his wife, Patti Hansen.
I also love tech. Digital embroidery is a process wherein I program my original drawings, through special computer software, into detailed embroidery files, adding thread textures and special effects to the lines and areas. I am then able stitch them out in multiples using a computerized sewing machine. I paint and print images and textures on panels of a micro-fiber material, Encaustiflex, with Encaustic and embroider the images right through the wax paint. I make lots and lots of paintings, embroideries and prints, without thought to a final piece, going purely on impulse. Gathering these elements, I see which ones work together, in a patchwork quilt type format, to form a loose narrative in the spirit of myths and fairy tales, a little funny, a little scary. I am always surprised by the story that results.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
I think being a fine artist is being a problem solver. However, we artists must create our own problems to solve. The problems can be about working with new materials and technology in the service of creativity, investigating new visual points of view, raising awareness about social issues and other personal interests. What makes this process compelling and inspiring to viewers and ourselves is conquering these difficult problems in surprising affecting ways. In my opinion, if you aren’t breaking some kind of new ground, why bother. That is what gets me into the studio every day and it is what I teach my students. I remind them that making art is hard and that is what makes it worth doing.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
When I am between shows of my work in galleries, I welcome visits to my Weston, CT studio. It is a busy place where I also teach both Encaustic and Cold Wax painting. The show I am working on now is called “FreeForm” about the artistic process with my frequent collaborator, former Boston native, Roxanne Faber Savage. It will be at Western Connecticut State University in 2020. Lots to do!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lesliegiuliani.com
- Email: lesliegiuliani@mac.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lesliegiuliani/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leslie.giuliani
Image Credit:
Leslie Giuliani
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