• Article on %In the End a Devastating Beauty.%

    Article on %In the End a Devastating Beauty.%

    Thanks to Art Spiel for this article on Susan Hoffman Fishman's and my show at Stand4 Gallery

  • In the End a Devastating Beauty - at Stand4 Gallery in Brooklyn

    In the End a Devastating Beauty - at Stand4 Gallery in Brooklyn

    2 person exhibition at Stand4 Gallery in Brooklyn with Susan Hoffman Fishman. Based on our two person residency at Planet Labs, this exhibition will run for a month.

  • upcoming fall-winter 2023-24

    upcoming fall-winter 2023-24

    Thanks for your Service: A group exhibit confronting environmental crisis at the Enviroart Gallery at the School for Environment and Sustainability - opening 12/5 from 5-7pm. with Cathy Barry, Cynthia Panucci, Ann Rosenthal and Todd Gilens curated by Sara Adlerstein. This show will be up through January 2024. Dana Building, the University of Michigan

    Gallery Artists Holiday Show at 22 North - affordable art

    I will have small works including a lot of unframed work on paper in this affordable art show.
    show hours:
    Fri December 1 5-8 pm (First Fridays Ypsilanti) I’ll be there for the First Friday event.

    Sat December 2 1-5 pm

    Sun December 3 1-5 pm

    Sat December 9 1-5 pm

    Sun December 10 1-5 pm

    And in January - In The End, A Devastating Beauty at Stand4 Gallery in Brooklyn NY. This two person show with Susan Hoffman Fishman will open January 19 and be up for a month. I will be there for the opening.

  • Article in the Detroit News about "Environmentally Speaking"

    "Environmentally Speaking" at the Janice Charach Gallery - 3 shows in one, which I co-curated with Laura Earle and Olivia Guterson.

  • Article about there is no other published

    The Creative Armory is a Detroit area arts blog. I had a deep conversation with Jess at 22 North and this is what she wrote.

  • there is no other - coming to 22 North Gallery November-December

    there is no other -  coming to 22 North Gallery November-December

    My solo show there is no other will be at 22 North from November 18-December 18 with an opening reception Friday December 3 from 6-9pm. This exhibition of mixed media work on panel is about the interconnections between us and the environment and finding the beauty in those connections. I’m excited about the work and hope you’ll join me.

    I’m giving an artist talk about this exhibition on Saturday Dec 11 at 7pm at the gallery.

    (image is rooted - network - mixed media on panel, 20" x 40" ©2021

  • I'm a member of the artist collective Think About Water

    Think About Water is a group of 30 artists whose practices all focus in varying degrees on issues to do with water and climate.

  • Article about my work at ARTSHELP

    ARTSHELP is a Canadian non-profit with a guiding principle of using art to make the world a better place with a focus on sustainability and environmentalism. That aligns with my practice so well that I was delighted to find that writer Emily Burkhart had written about my work for them here.

  • I'm part of Womxnhouse Detroit!

    I'm part of Womxnhouse Detroit!

    https://www.womxnhousedet.com/

    Encounter the creative voices of fifteen contemporary women artists in this whole house exhibition reflecting the art of being female in America today. Curated by Laura Earle and Asia Hamilton.This whole house installation requires tickets to attend. Eventbrite is here

  • ArtHouse Pop-Up in June

    ArtHouse Pop-Up in June

    Join me, Susan Fecteau, Sue Schneider, Oni Werth, Diane E. Dues
    Lisa Singer, Sam Fecteau Brown and others for a pop-up art exhibition at

    913 Gott St, Ann Arbor MI

    Hours - Friday June 11 5-8pm
    Saturday June 12 10am-7pm
    Sunday noon-5pm.

    We will still be cautious about COVID - if you are not fully vaccinated we need you to wear a mask for the indoors portions of the sale in particular.

    We're excited to see people in person at this pop-up and will have work in a range of styles and price-points. So come get your art-fix on!

  • I'm going to the Arctic Circle

    I'm going to the Arctic Circle

    Help me raise funds for a climate focused residency in the high arctic on board a Tall Ship [photo credit Beau Carey from http://thearcticcircle.org]. In October I will board the Tall Ship Antigua to sail the Svalbard Archipelago with a group of artists and climate researchers.

  • I've been awarded a Puffin Foundation West grant.

    I've been awarded a Puffin Foundation West grant.

    I"m delighted to announce that I've received support from the Puffin Foundation West for my curatorial project responding to the climate resilience book All We Can Save. This group exhibition will make its debut at 22 North this summer and will travel to the Nurture Nature Center in Pennsylvania after that. The artists participating are


    Laura Earle
    Elizabeth Fall
    Tracey Easthope
    Gina R Furnari
    Nancy Cohen
    Kate Dodd
    Leslie Sobel

  • See Confluence - my MFA exhibition

    This is the link to my cohort's exhibition site including a 3D tour.

  • Review of Confluence - my cohort's MFA exhibition

    review by Susan Hoffman Fishman of the blog Artists and Climate.

  • Exhibition at Michigan Medicine

    Exhibition at Michigan Medicine

    Shrines & Reliquaries: Memorializing Climate

    December 16, 2019 – March 6, 2020
    Open daily from 8:00am – 8:00pm

    Gifts of Art Gallery – Taubman Health Center South Lobby, Floor 1
    1500 E. Medical Center Drive
    Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Work by Leslie Sobel will be featured in Michigan Medicine’s ongoing exhibit Gifts of Art: Bringing the World of Art & Music to Michigan Medicine. For her series, Shrines & Reliquaries: Memorializing Climate, Sobel created mixed-media boxes meant to capture memories of places being altered by climate change. She drew inspiration from Tibetan iconography as well as her time as artist in residence at Kluane National Park in Yukon Territory, Canada where in 2017 she camped on an icefield with a group of climate scientists.The small boxes utilize paint, monotype, photography, resin and encaustic to invoke complex ideas and emotions that one can hold in their hands.

  • New workshops available!

    Check out the workshop tab for some new offerings in February and March!

  • Article about my work in the Ecology Center Newsletter

  • I have an article about my Kluane work in a new sci-art magazine naturevolve

    I have an article about my Kluane work in a new sci-art magazine naturevolve

    You can read it here

  • Article about me in the Ann Arbor Observer

    Article about me in the Ann Arbor Observer

    Dawn Wolfe wrote about my Eclipse residency for the Observer

  • Upcoming solo show

    Upcoming solo show

    shifting terrain- my sojourn on the ice

    mixed media & photography
    22 North Gallery

    Opening Reception Friday May 4, 2018 7-10pm
    artist at gallery, Saturday May 12, 3-5pm
    artist talk Saturday May 19, 3pm

    22 North Huron, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197
    734.340.9746

    Hours by appointment

    Leslie camped on the Eclipse Icefield at 10,000 feet
    with a group of climate scientists – leading to this body
    of work about the science and the experience of
    climate change in the remote wilderness in Canada.



  • Grant funded workshop in California

    Grant funded workshop in California

    In February I was able to take David A Clark's encaustic monoprinting workshop at the Palm Springs Art Museum thanks to a Professional Development Grant from the MCACA administered by the Arts Alliance. This was an amazing opportunity to study with a master printmaker and I could not have done it without the MCACA grant.

  • Article published in ProWaxJournal about my Yukon residency.

    Article published in ProWaxJournal about my Yukon residency.

    I wrote an article about my Kluane Trip for ProWaxJournal

  • Find my work on Redbubble

    I'm excited to announce that you can buy prints and products with my images at RedBubble now. If you've ever thought about a phone cover, tote bag, tee or a reproduction of my work you can find lots of options on my online store!

  • Studio Sale

    Studio Sale

    I'm having a studio sale - with all work discounted 20% to help cover the costs for my upcoming wilderness residency I have encaustic paintings and prints in a range of sizes from 6" x 6" to 24" x 48". I need to make room for the new work that will be coming out of my trip to the far north!

    Details

    Sunday April 2 2pm-6pm
    1314 Beechwood Dr. Ann Arbor MI 48103

    Image is Stormy Lake Michigan, encaustic on panel, 24" x 24" and yes it's available.

  • Wilderness Residency in May

    Wilderness Residency in May

    I am excited to announce that I am going to spend a couple of weeks working with climate scientists in the Yukon Territory in May. Lots more details on the website here The photo is from last years fieldwork at the same place - in July. photo by Dorota Medrzycka

  • Solo show at Dexter District Library

    Solo show at Dexter District Library

    I have a new solo show at the Dexter Library Field of Vision - part II - paintings. On view Oct 26 to mid December. The opening reception will be November 18th from 6-8pm - after the election for obvious reasons!

  • Artwork chosen for public art project

    Artwork chosen for public art project

    My piece Row of Pines was one of four pieces chosen by public vote after jurying to be part of the Power Art Project in Ann Arbor, wrapping downtown power boxes with reproductions of the chosen pieces.

  • West Side Art Hop

    Happy to be part of this year's Art Hop on May 14th. I will have mainly small paintings and prints and a few larger pieces. If you're in SE Michigan I hope you'll stop by!

  • New representation - May 2015

    I am now represented by Sleeping Bear Gallery in Empire Michigan. Empire is the headquarters for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in NW Michigan and is a stunning area. I'm delighted to join the gallery's roster of artists.

  • New representation - January 2015

    I'm happy to report that my work can now be found at Terra Gallery in Columbus. Terra is in the Short North Arts District and will shortly open an additional location in Dublin OH. I delivered a lot of work to them yesterday including the splash image on this website.

  • Group show reviewed

    I was part of a group show curated by the River Gallery and hung at the University of Michigan's Rackham Graduate Building. The show was reviewed in the Ann Arbor News.

  • Group show reviewed

    I was part of a group show curated by the River Gallery and hung at the University of Michigan's Rackham Graduate Building. The show was reviewed in the Ann Arbor News.

  • New small and midsized work at multiple venues

    It's fall and that means many new small works are available. I have new work at the Grosse Pointe Art Center, Ann Arbor Art Center and Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center. All will be having special holiday events.

  • New work in Ann Arbor

    I've got a piece in the River Gallery's invitational exhibition Reaching for the Light at Rackham Graduate School on the University of Michigan campus. This show is up October 6 - December 15 / 2014

    Also new work up at Gallery 117 at the Ann Arbor Art Center.

  • My Ignite talk

    Ignite events are like mini-TED talks - you get 5 minutes and 20 slides to tell a story. I spoke at Ignite Ann Arbor on November 17, 2013. My talk was about my experience at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument as artist in residence in September 2013.

  • Grant Awarded

    I have been awarded a Professional Development Grant of $815 from the State of Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) to help me attend the International Encaustic Conference. The grant was awarded through the MCACA peer review process and was one of 428 applications to compete for MCACA fiscal year 2014 funding.

    The International Encaustic Conference is the most important professional event for artists working in the medium of encaustic. Encaustic is beeswax based paint and has been used for thousands of years - it is a highly durable, archival and luminous material which is notoriously difficult to control. I am nationally known for my work in this challenging medium. My attendance at the conference and pre or post conference workshops will enable me to further develop professionally as an artist, bringing more technical skill and professional connections to my career.

  • Dramatic Digitals - 2 person show at Dexter Library

    My landscapes are being shown in a 2 person show at the Dexter District Library with Judith Jacobs work. Both of us used digital tools in the creation of all the work in the show. More information about the show here. This exhibition was curated by Distinct Designs.

  • Latest


    I was interviewed on WUOM by Jennifer Guerra along with Gallery Director Sara Adlerstein about my show Watershed Moments at the new University of MIchigan Art & the Environment Gallery.