Artist Statement
My artwork has come from memories of summers spent leaping and diving, doing cannonballs and back flips, participating in breath holding contests and looking up through chlorine filtered sunlight daydreaming. In water, we become weightless, buoyant and free both in mind and body. As a competitive swimmer and Psychologist for most of my life, these are elements I consciously integrate into my work. Using found objects, paint and photographs, I create nostalgic paintings of the past I carry with me into the present.
Bio
Leslie Morgan was born and raised in the middle of a Texas desert where the nearest ocean was 600 miles away. As a kid, she dreamed of tropical islands, pirate boats and sea creatures. The public pool served as her primary mode of escape and a therapy for childhood asthma. Diving into the water then was the birth of a lifetime obsession and joy with aquatic experiences. She spent her early professional years in Key West working as a Psychologist in hospitals, jails, nursing homes and clinics. Her free time was spent anchored behind different islands on the boat she called home. Leslie shares her time between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, ca.
She began the journey of transforming this art form into her unique hybrids of painting, photography, recycled rusted bits and collage. Her memories of the waters in the Keys and Northern California serve as undercurrents to the concepts in her work. She explores ideas tied to nostalgia, female icons, boat captaining and the oceans as well as to the environment, preservation, consumerism and re-purpose materials.
Morgan’s has a studio at 1890 Bryant St. Studio in San Francisco’s bustling SOMA district as well as River Dragon Studios at 124 River Street in Santa Cruz. Most recently her work is represented by John McEvoy Fine Art in San Francisco's Design Center and Studio Gallery. Her work has been reviewed by the SF Examiner, 96 Hours Magazine, and ArtSlant. She has shown work with galleries in California, Oregon, Georgia & Texas. She is an active participant with ArtSpan’s annual Open Studios in San Francisco & Art for Aids.
Leslie Morgan was born and raised in the middle of a Texas desert where the nearest ocean was 600 miles away. As a kid, she dreamed of tropical islands, pirate boats and sea creatures. The public pool served as her primary mode of escape and a therapy for childhood asthma. Diving into the water then was the birth of a lifetime obsession and joy with aquatic experiences. She spent her early professional years in Key West working as a Psychologist in hospitals, jails, nursing homes and clinics. Her free time was spent anchored behind different islands on the boat she called home. Leslie shares her time between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, ca.
She began the journey of transforming this art form into her unique hybrids of painting, photography, recycled rusted bits and collage. Her memories of the waters in the Keys and Northern California serve as undercurrents to the concepts in her work. She explores ideas tied to nostalgia, female icons, boat captaining and the oceans as well as to the environment, preservation, consumerism and re-purpose materials.
Morgan’s has a studio at 1890 Bryant St. Studio in San Francisco’s bustling SOMA district as well as River Dragon Studios at 124 River Street in Santa Cruz. Most recently her work is represented by John McEvoy Fine Art in San Francisco's Design Center and Studio Gallery. Her work has been reviewed by the SF Examiner, 96 Hours Magazine, and ArtSlant. She has shown work with galleries in California, Oregon, Georgia & Texas. She is an active participant with ArtSpan’s annual Open Studios in San Francisco & Art for Aids.