Leslie Schomp
drawing, sculpture
I earned an MFA at the Massachusetts College of Art. I have taught drawing at the College of the Holy Cross since 2000. My work consists of portrait drawings and sculptures that utilize botanical and animal references to communicate ideas about various states human psychology, autobiography and nature. I primarily use textiles and fibers of all kinds, including hair. Much of my sculptural work is stitched. I find that cloth “acts” like the body. It bundles, stretches, gathers and lays flat. I am fascinated by the variety of available fabric surfaces as well as the textural possibilities I am able to conjure out of them. I am continually interested in making work that plays both as surface and form. Ink on paper is also a favorite drawing medium. I am as interested in the spontaneous interactions of ink into the fibers of paper as I am the forms I conjure out of that process. Inspiration comes from my research of historical samplers, miniature portraits, Victorian tokens of remembrance and early scientific botanical drawings.