Skip to main content

Six of the Best 43: Painter Leslie Peterson Sapp

Boudoir II, 40 inches x 48 inches, acrylic/charcoal/collage on panel, 2022

Part 43 of an interview series in which artists reply to the same six questions. Leslie Peterson Sapp is a painter and printmaker based in Oregon, USA. She makes painting and prints that call to mind mid-twentieth century magazine and book cover images, and film noir mystery. You can see more of her work here. Other interviews on this blog are available here.

Philip Hartigan: What medium/media do you chiefly use, and why?

Leslie Peterson Sapp: I use acrylic paint and paper. This is because I enjoy being able to collage paper and combine it with paint. Back in college I used oils, which are a far more sensual experience. But oil rots paper, and once I started working with collage and drawing, I switched. Now I am accustomed to the short drying time: it has a completely different rhythm than oil paint.

PH: What piece are you currently working on?

LSP: I’m working on a piece I’m calling “Boudoir”. It’s a large piece (40 inches x 48 inches). It is of a femme fatale in a white gown, reclining on an emerald green chaise lounge. On the floor in front of her is a stack of books, and a bottle of champagne and two glasses, one of which is toppled over. It’s very 1930s glamour shot, but the books bring a bit of a twist to it.

Lace, 40 inches x 40 inches, acrylic/collage on panel, 2020

PH: What creative surprises are happening in the current work?

LSP: My work has been created with more immediacy and fluidity than I have been working over the last several years. Previously, I would do drawings and small studies, and then resize the drawing and transfer it to a panel, then paint. This time I decided to skip transferring the drawing, and simply mounted it on a panel and started painting on it directly. It was different and very freeing.

PH: What other artistic medium (or non-artistic activity) feeds your creative process?

LSP: My big geeky obsession is archeology and ancient history. Not an artistic medium per se, but very visual and I find it relaxing and inspiring to read about it and watch shows about it. 

I also love old movies and I love to dance. I hope to begin learning flamenco dancing soon- I just have to sign up!

The Hanged Man, 32 inches x 18 inches, acrylic/charcoal on panel, 2021

PH: What's the first ever piece of art you remember making?

LSP: I remember trying to draw hands when I was very tiny, like kindergarten. So, I had two figures, standing side by side, with gigantic hands. I also used to make a lot of drawings of swans in lakes in the moonlight. Very moody, even back then.

PH: Finally, and you can answer this in any way that's meaningful to you: why are you an artist?

LSP: Because I am compelled to. Perhaps it's because I started so young, when I was very tiny, and people would marvel at my ability, so I think I identified with being “an artist” so young, that I never stopped. This isn’t to say that there haven’t been interruptions in my artistic practice. But I’ve never really identified as anything else.

If you liked this interview, and you'd like to keep up to date with the series, why not Subscribe to my Artist Newsletter via the link in the right-hand column? Thanks, and keep creating.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Restoring my Printing Press

I've just finished restoring and assembling my large etching press -- a six week process involving lots of rust removal, scrubbing with steel wool, and repainting. Here is a photo of the same kind of press from the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative: And here is a short YouTube video of me testing the press, making sure the motor still works after nearly seven years of lying in storage:
Click here to read more

Brancusi in Plastic

Artist Mary Ellen Croteau is showing these columns made from recycled plastic cartons and lids in the window of the Columbia College bookstore on Michigan Avenue. They are a playful homage to Brancusi's "Endless Columns", with a serious environmental message for our times: Image copyright Inhabitat.com and Mary Ellen Croteau Mary Ellen also runs a wonderful experimental art gallery in a window space in west Chicago, called Art on Armitage . I will be exhibiting a mixed media piece there during August 2012.
Click here to read more

How to etch a linoleum block

Linoleum as a material for printmaking has been used for nearly a hundred years now. Normally, you cut an image out using special gouges similar to woodcut tools, cutting away the lino around the image you want to print. This is called relief printmaking, because if you look at the block from the side, the material that remains stands up in relief from the backing material. You then roll ink with a brayer over the surface of the block, place paper over it, and either print by hand or run it through a press. You can do complex things this way (for example, reduction linocuts), but the beauty of the process is that it is quick, simple, and direct. Incised lino block, from me.redith.com Etched lino block, from Steve Edwards A few years ago, I saw some prints that were classified as coming from etched linoleum blocks, and I loved the textures I saw in them. In the last few months, I've been trying to use this technique in my own studio, learning about it as one does these d
Click here to read more