Lesley A. Powell
Fleischmanns, NY
Lesley A. Powell started as a dancer, choreographer and now a painter. The love of movement, space, texture, the body, color and nature influences her art
MessageAs first a dancer, choreographer and now a painter, the love of movement, space, texture, the body, color and nature are major influences on my art. Now the canvas/paper is my stage. Lines, colors and shapes are the movement. The set design is the composition. I am trying to find the visual metaphor of the moment: whether it be the body, abstraction or nature.
I, being a dancer and a teacher of movement and anatomy, am intrigued by the body. I studied for years the expression of the physical body and emotion through dance and mime. My art is a continuation of this pathway.
The dance on the canvas/paper is trying to capture that passion. I love working with models in short poses that can show more movement. Since I teach teachers about the body, pilates and anatomy, I started an art series, Anatomy Dances. Here I want to give the feeling of moving beyond static anatomy drawings to the complexity of the body moving in space.
I also love nature. Plein Air lets me explore the beauty that I see. I try to find the essence of the landscape. Watercolor one learns to be spontaneous.
My oil painting takes me on another journey. I get more time to think about the painting. Since I am either painting at Art Students league in New York City or my home in the Catskills, my process of developing the work is different.
My collages brings together many of my watercolors in a unique juxtaposition of images. I love how the unconscious can come into play with my collages.
Statement
My art deals with the ability to expressively describe movement, its emotions and space, whether it was on the stage or now the two dimensional space of the canvas. Working on the canvas is now the stage for movement, line, color, texture and expression. I am intrigued by the movements of the body, stories of juxtapositions of images of people and the love of nature. Blurring the image to capture essence of the movement, the expression of the space on the canvas, nature and color are motivations in my art.
Being a choreographer taught me how the placement of dancers at different spaces on the stage creates its own nonverbal drama. Adding costumes, lights and sometimes a set also changed the language of the piece. This has influence how I use the space of the paper or canvas. The stage has been replace with different forms, images and colors on the two dimensional surface. The visual has its own nonverbal language that goes beyond the linear to different depths of feeling and expression. Nonverbal stories of juxtapositions of figures, images and nature are a constant search in my art.
One of the problems that I had with all the drawings/paintings of the model is how to deal with the background in larger work. One can get too concentrated in the short poses of the figure alone without thinking of the background. Kamilla Talbot, my watercolor teacher, did not allow us to use pencil. She taught us how to see the negative space as shape. This process taught me how to think of designing the entire page and not just separate objects. Frank O’Cain, another teacher of mine, brought principles of Hans Hoffman to think of paintings having different planes and spaces on a page.
Many of my studies of working with models, plein air and my own photography influence my larger pieces. I work with models usually in short poses either in watercolor, colored pencil or pastels. I love the short poses because the models can be more creative in their positions. I usually do smaller works with watercolor, colored pencil or pastels from this to work out ideas for a larger painting.
My plein air and landscape paintings are another exploration about space, lines and colors. My landscapes are helping me to think different about the background of my figurative work. Sometimes I take my studies and create a collage. I love how collage pushes a different kind of creativity and layering of images.
The designs created by layering of figures and nature interests me. Space is expressive. How the background, figures or objects interact with each other captures my eye. I am drawn to space that criss crosses in line and color.
Lesley A. Powell has been an artist all of her life. She was first a dancer, choreographer and now a painter. The love of movement, space, texture, the body, color and nature are major influences on her art. Lesley’s art deals with the ability to expressively change the space, whether it be the stage or the painting.
Lesley A. Powell’s art deals with the ability to expressively describe movement, its emotions and space, whether it was on the stage or now the 2 dimensional space of the canvas. Working on the canvas is now the stage for movement, line, color, texture and expression. Lesley is intrigued by the movements of the body, stories of juxtapositions of images of people and the love of nature. Blurring the image to capture essence of the movement, the expression of the space on the canvas, nature and color are motivations in Lesley A. Powell’s art.