Leslie Nobler

Artist Statement

­Artist Statement

Leslie Nobler

Looking at ways in which artists bring their heritage, their personal stories, and their hands into their art has long been a research thrust and influence upon my own art practice. These portraits represent formidable women who used their incredible talents to overcome massive obstacles, racism, war, fear or precarity. Yet these women did not simply survive, they contributed creatively to their cultures in unique and wonderful ways. Two presented here emerged physically, though not psychologically, unscathed from WWII. After a rocky early childhood, Sonia Terk Delaunay eventually attended art school and attempted to succeed in the male-dominated art world of Paris. She fled persecution by the Nazis, yet still managed to not only gain (limited) acceptance, but to pave the way for other women and refugee artists. Ettie Zilber, born in a WWII displaced person's camp, became one of the first leading experts on intergenerational trauma – early on lecturing, writing, and helping trauma survivors (long before it became “trendy”). In the 60's, many American women artists fought both the war and for equity in the art world, such as Martha Rosler. More recently, Amy Sherald had to overcome institutional racism and medical near-disaster as she rose up in the art world. Her very existence is inspiring to so many; through her work she has amplified racial issues, the (new) erasure of the Black race from US history, and the challenges that Black Americans must face daily, as she publically promotes and supports social justice causes. All of these women promote(d) progressive ideologies through their own minds and hands.

My mixed-media artwork, an ongoing series of over 25 portraits, is still evolving from many years of research into significant, resilient “creatives.” My art practice combines an intense interest in experimental printmaking and surface design on fiber, merged with social issues. Likewise, the women's images are usually combined or collaged with symbols, words, patterns and snippets of their own work and personal histories. Their work promoting improvement in their communities and beyond, accomplished amid adversity, makes them an inspiration.

These examples of resilience provide a window into the lives of individuals of distinct talent, humanity and grace. Using rich surfaces, patterns and colors, the hope is to seduce veiwers into also seeing the troubling and uplifting backstories lying below the surface. In celebrating the fortitude and grit of the female spirit from the 20th to the 21st century, I endeavor to tell their stories, critical to our lives today and tomorrow.