Leslie Parke Studio 15 West Main Street, Cambridge, New York 12816
This summer I'm celebrating 45 years in my current studio. I was the first tenant in the 19th-century factory building that was once occupied by a seed packaging plant and is now known as VARAK Industrial Park. I was the only tenant in the building during my first year in 1977.
My space, which spans the top floor of the building is mostly raw, which means it's hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. But I have carved out a space for my studio and one for my office and the rest is used for display, storage, and shipping.
My studio is like an airport. I go to the same place every day, but it takes me to new destinations.
This summer, I don’t want to just celebrate being in this one location, I want to share the discoveries I have made as I pull out work from each decade; to share the journey, the investigation, and the throughlines.
THE STUDIO 45 EXHIBITIONS
I am celebrating my 45 years with three exhibitions, ALMOST BLACK AND WHITE, PAIRINGS and DRAWINGS AND SMALL WORKS, public open studio days and gatherings by invitation between now until August 31. More information on the exhibitions are here or sign up for our newsletter.
Public studio days are June 25th, July 16th and August 20th. Other new and old works can be seen throughout the space along with each exhibition. If you would like to visit the studio to see an exhibition outside of the Open Studio dates contact me to schedule a time by appointment.
ALMOST BLACK AND WHITE
5 - 29 June
PAIRINGS
5 - 31 July
DRAWINGS AND SMALL WORKS
3 - 31 August
VARAK INDUSTRIAL PARK
VISIT THE STUDIO AND YOU CAN DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF THE SURROUNDING AREAS WHICH HAVE BEEN MY HOME FOR THE LAST 45 YEARS.
Click here to view suggestions and local tourist information for your visit.
THROUGH THE DECADES
After 45 years in the same studio, as I pull out work from each decade, I have been discovering the throughlines. Something that I think is new and unique turns out to have a similar manifestation 30 years earlier, that I have since forgotten.
Where I live, we like to say, “You can’t get there from here.” meaning there is no direct route. You may need to retrace your tracks to find a way through. That’s what it is like to work in this studio - I keep moving forward while retracing my steps.
JOURNEY THROUGH THE LAST 45 YEARS OF MY SERIES
View artwork from these series which are still available to purchase HERE
PORTRAITS OVER THE YEARS
STUDIO NOTES
This is my 1850s studio building at VARAK Park. It once housed a seed packaging plant. It closed in the early 1970s and was bought by 5 businessmen in town who wanted it to house other businesses and create some employment for the village. I was their first tenant and I worked in the building alone for a year before anyone else moved in.
This is the entrance to my building. My part of the building is completely wooden! To see the construction alone is worth the trip.
About a mile from the studio I took my grandfather's "wedding band" fine porcelain china and put it in the creek on a friend's property. I was looking for things transparent, translucent, with shimmer and shine. I made many paintings of these dishes.
My Dad was an anesthesiologist, but he loved to make things and was very handy. When I was two, he built two wooden sailboats in the living room of our house in a New York suburb. He was going to build them in the basement, but my mother said, "Don't do that, I'll never see you."
Around 1985 I made a series of paintings based on Giotto's Arena Chapel for the Williams College Museum. It took me every waking minute for 18 months. It was a challenge to my carpenter, who made the shaped stretchers, and to the machine shop behind my studio, which helped me design a way to attach the paintings from behind. They had to be built in sections to fit in the 19th Century elevator.
Some people see themselves in my work.
I love paint charts. This one is from a local paint maker - RGH Paints in Albany. Love Rolf's paints.
Here are two of the "Giotto" paintings installed at the Williams College Museum with an Ellsworth Kelly peeking through the doorway.
In 1994 I sent five months at the Claude Monet Foundation in Giverny, France. I had an apartment, a studio, and keys to the garden. I played boule in the garden with the guards and BBQ'ed on Monet's porch. I even ate in a room that was once one of his children's, since turned into an apartment for one of the guards. We ate in front of a window overlooking the empty garden. This painting was from then. It is of the pond in fall.
I have used very fine artist paint and house paint to make my paintings. My choice depends on how I want the paint to behave.
My mother gave me this beautiful set of Sennellier pastels. Best gift ever.
I come from a family who knew how to adapt things for their purposes (you should see the slide we made out of cardboard). I find the kiddy pool an invaluable tool in my studio.
