bio.
With a BA in Theater from the University of Maryland, Leslie King started as puppeteer in New York City’s Central Park, performing and making puppets. She then moved to Copenhagen, Denmark and worked as a scenic artist at Det Kongelige Teatre (the Royal Theater) painting sets, and making specialty props and masks.
After completing her degree in Graphic Design from “Denmark’s Design Skole” (now The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts), Leslie spent a decade working as a graphic artist and videographer for CSC in Denmark. During that time she worked internationally on projects in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, France, and the US.
Leslie has been working with ceramic sculpture since 2016. She earned her MFA in Ceramic Sculpture from Hood College in 2021.
artist statement.
"My sculptures are based in reality and informed by my imagination. They are about by people I've known, stories I've heard, myths, memories and current events.
My tools are experience, observation, experimentation, and persistence. It is with them that I try to find a physical manifestation of things that are important to me.
My process begins with building the clay into a rough form, experimenting with planes, volumes, line, surface, pattern, and textures. As the sculpture begins to take shape, it becomes recognizable as a character. As I continue to work, the narrative of that character starts to emerge. A smile, gesture or attitude, a certain turn of the head may be all it takes for the narrative to become clear, or at least to become interesting and invite the audience to engage.
"What is the mystery behind a smile? What's the story there?" The answer will not always be immediately clear but the question is worth asking."
- Leslie King