Leslie Exton: no day without a line

"On the third of October, 2010, I picked seventeen leaves from a Northern Red Oak tree on my farm in Rappahannock County, VA. Over the next fourteen months I drew one leaf a day--combining my lifelong studio practice of drawing each day with my obsessive search for observable reality. To reduce the tendency toward expression I chose pencil rather than paint and drew each leaf using the same 8”x10” portrait orientation--drawing and redrawing--intensely repeating this labor of observation, study, and mark making.  These governing principles were maintained in order to render a specific leaf--a form shaped by cells, seasons and insects. This pursuit of the particular comes from my intense interest in the certainties of realism in Western art, the process of botanical specimen collecting, and a dislike of the generic."

--Leslie Exton

This exhibition presents a recent project by Leslie Exton, associate professor of fine art, as she prepares to retire.

Opening Reception Tuesday, July 3, 6-8 p.m., Gallery 31