Leslie Wu

When I’m not in the studio I am paddling on Puget Sound, or walking along it’s shores. I grew up kayaking and camping in the Adirondacks, along the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Carolina Coasts. I’ve lived in Upstate, NY near the Finger Lakes and in the Midwest near Lake Michigan. Now I live in the North West on Vashon Island. Where ever I have lived, these particular stretches of seas, lakes and rivers go with me. They are in me every bit as much as I am in them.

I am influenced by the subtle landscape paintings of the 19th century Luminists, who were focused on the effects of light and atmosphere, especially Sanford Gifford. John Frederick Kensett's compositionally reduced paintings interest me as well as the understated solitary moments in Edward Hopper’s work.

I paint with with a reverence for the landscape. Feeling and memory are essential parts of my process. On site I take many photographs. Then begin with charcoal sketches to distill my feelings into simplified compositions. This allows me freedom when painting to remember the powerful connection I experienced in  the landscape.

Sometimes I collaborate with my father who was a wonderful photographer and I’ll adapt his images of our camping trips from the 50‘s and 60‘s into my paintings. This is where the figures in landscape began for me. Now when I’m camping and see children and adults acting like children I photograph them to celebrate nature’s inherent, self contained power to uplift.

To further express the power and serenity of landscape I’ve increased the scale of my paintings to allow me to feel the expansiveness of the place and the awe that I experienced as a child and continue to experience now.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS    * denotes solo and two person exhibits

2024                    Shifting Light, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL *

                            Celebrate Art, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA  

2023                    Sense of Place, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA *

2022                    Celebrate Art, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA  

                            Late Summer, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, Fish Creek, WI *

2021                    Light Passages, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL *

                            Celebrate Art, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA  

2020                    Eternal Landscape, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle ,WA  *   

                             Face to Face, Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 

                             Art of Work, Benton County Museum, Oregon

2019                    Still Moments, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL *

                             In the Summer, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, Fish Creek, WI  *

2018                    Softly Falling, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle ,WA  *

2017                    Revering Nature, Bainbridge Island Museum of Arts, Bainbridge Island, WA

                             Still Shores, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL  *

                             Summer Waters, Vashon Center for the Arts, Vashon, WA *

2016                    Revering Nature, Vashon Center For The Arts, Vashon, WA

                             Summer Days, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, Fish Creek, WI *

2015                    Of Town and Country, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL *

2014                    Go West Gala, Art Auction, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA

                             Less is More, Mitchell Gallery of St. Johns College, Annapolis, MD

                             Rock, Water, Trees, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, Fish Creek, WI *

2013                    Light Over Water, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, WI *

                             Less is More, Mitchell Gallery of St. Johns College, Annapolis, MD

                             Masters in Miniature, Vashon Allied Arts, Vashon, WA

2012                    Between Memory and Anticipation, Anne Loucks Gallery,

                             Glencoe, IL*

                             Summer Light, Vashon Allied Arts, Vashon WA *

2011                    Belonging, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, WI *

                             Ways Into the Region, Oregon State University, Or

2010                    Homing, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL  *

2008                    Re;visions, Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 

                             Two Views, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL *

2007                    Shorelines; Between Two Worlds,  * Edgewood Orchard Gallery, WI *

2006                    Looking; To Be Looked At, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2005                    Still Surface, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, WI * 

2004                    Summer Love, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

                             ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL

1999                    Soho Arts South,  Palm Beach, FL

1998                    Bijou, Bon Bon & Beau, Memorial Art Museum of the University of

                             Rochester, NY *

1992                    Itoya Gallery, New World Exhibit, Tokyo, Japan 

1991                    Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA * 

1990                    Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA *

1988                    Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

1987                    Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA *  

                             Ward Gallery, Rochester, NY

1986                    Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA *

                            Nan Miller Gallery, Pittsford, NY *

                            Philadelphia Art Fair, Philadelphia, PA

1985                    Bevier Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

                            Gallery Oboussier, Nantucket, MA   

1984                    Gallery Oboussier, Nantucket, MA *

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Deborah Butterfield and John Buck, Bozeman, MT

Jessica and Mike McCarthy, Dallas, TX

Laurie and Mark Murphy, Green Bay, WI

Gabriele Pfeiffer, Fort Myers, FL

Jim and Diane Stewart, Highland Park, IL

Francis and June Spiezer, Northbrooke, IL

Elise Walgreen, Bannockburn, IL

Elizabeth and Frederick Walters, Bainbridge Island, WA

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

4 Culture, King County Public Art Collection, Seattle, WA

Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Hyatt Hotel, Rochester, NY

Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL

Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, NY

Keihin Hotel, Toko, Japan

PUBLICATIONS

2011                     The Butterfly Tree, Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, GA

2002/2003           Communication Arts Magazine (images)

1999                     Chicago Board of Trade, Covers (images) 

1998                     “Step by Step,” MAG exhibit details the creative process 

                              Leslie Wu’s nod to Degas by Deborah Fineblum Raub, Pg. 3C

1995                     The Artist's Magazine, October , Page 72.

LECTURES and EVENTS

2019                     Juror, Northwest Pastel Society Member Show Artist Talk, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, WI

2017                     Artist talk, Bainbridge Museum of Art, Bainbridge Island, WA

                              Artist Talk, Vashon Center for the Arts, Vashon, WA

2016,13,11, 08   Artist Talk, Edgewood Orchard Gallery, WI

1998                     Lecture at the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, NY

1994                     Guest Panelist for the American Institute of Graphic Arts “Turning Points", Eisenhart Auditorium, Museum & Science Center, NY

EDUCATION

1977                     BFA Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY