Displayed works include mixed media with encaustic (wax based) paint featuring maps and scientific data.
Sobel's work often focuses on the environment and the ways people change, understand and interact with it. Sobel uses a combination of scientific imaging, including satellite and photomicrographs, computer code and maps to create her work. Her interests include the impact of climate change on habitat - both developed and wilderness.
“I connect deeply with the outdoors,” stated artist Leslie Sobel. “Places I’ve walked, hiked, sat, lived and imagined figure prominently in my work. My work has long focused on wilderness, human impact on the natural world and especially on issues of water - plentiful or not. I have been fascinated with aerial views of landscape for many years and often begin work from satellite or astronaut photography.”
Drawn to abstraction even when she’s painting in a representational way, Sobel wants the lushness to come through her works. “Whether I am painting from an aerial or a conventional perspective, I make expressionistic landscapes responding to a specific place even if the end result is more open-ended about location. I am more interested in painterly abstraction than strict depiction of landscape while maintaining more than a vestige of representation in my work.”
Sobel attended the University of Michigan Stamps School Of Art and received her BFA in 1983. Subsequently, Sobel did her master’s degree work at Eastern Michigan University in Technology Management and has worked in computer graphics for many years. In addition, Sobel has exhibited extensively, curated numerous shows and been included in multiple publications.
In September 2013, Sobel participated in a month long wilderness based residency program sponsored by Colorado Art Ranch and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Southwest Colorado. She is an avid hiker whose connection with the outdoors is crucial to her work. Sobel is married and has three young adult children. She has lived in southeast Michigan for more than 30 years and grew up in Chicago.
This multi-media art exhibit at the Gallery@VT is free and open to the public: Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and during public performances at the theater. The Gallery@VT is closed on holidays. An artist’s reception will be held on Wednesday, November 4, from 7-9 p.m.
The Village Theater at Cherry Hill, located at 50400 Cherry Hill Road in Canton, is a regional center for the arts that offers the magic of live theatre, soul-stirring music, the thrill of the dance, and the enjoyment of fine art exhibitions and events, in addition to providing a home for several cultural organizations and community groups. For more information about this latest exhibition, please call 734/394-5300 or visit cantonvillagetheater.org.