Meet the Artist
Leslie-lynne Sinkey
I am a painter, potter, photographer and fiber artist inspired by having lived in the incomparable Four Corners region of the American southwest, where the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet. I grew up was raised in the gently rolling shortgrass prairie country of western Canada, in sight of the Rocky Mountains. (Yes, you’ll sometimes catch my Canadian “accent,” even in my writing). I was lured to the Southwest by one of the other great loves of my life: archaeology, in which I have a Master’s degree, but the majesty of both of these environments has sunk indelibly into my soul.
An unexpected talent…
Of all of these artistic “journeys,” if you will, painting has been the most recent, most unexpected, and most surprising. Perhaps for precisely those reasons, it has also been one of the most fulfilling.
After more than half a century of marveling at accomplished painters and artists and thinking, “I can’t paint…I can’t even draw!” I sort of fell into watercolor. Even now I’d be hard-pressed to explain exactly how it all came about. A friend of mine who is an excellent watercolorist provided a little encouragement, and after a jaunt to the local craft store and a few YouTube videos, I was hooked. I was also, to my own surprise (not to mention utter astonishment!) pretty good. Of course, now I’m wondering why it took me so many years to figure this out…
So, let that be a lesson to YOU: You’re never too old, and if you think you can’t…you’re WRONG!
Photo by Paul Hearing
Through the lens…
By contrast, photography is a long-standing interest, dating back to the days when I used a vintage (even then!) Kodak Instamatic—the kind with the rotating flash cube on top. (Extra points if you are old enough to remember those!)
Through all these years, though, my favourite subjects have remained unchanged–wildlife and wild lands. And those old Instamatic snaps? They’ve found new life as inspirations for my paintings.
Wrapped Up In Fiber…
It’s a bit of a tossup which came first in my life–pottery, or fiber arts. (It depends on whether “advanced mud-pie making” at the age of four constitutes “pottery.” If not, then fiber wins.) I remember being taught to knit by my mother–an accomplished and hard-core knitter–at about the age of six. Whatever “skills” I developed sort of fell into abeyance until I was in my mid-teens, when my first project featured Fair Isle in bands of two or three colors. If you’re a knitter, you know how complicated that is. (If you’re not a knitter…well, just trust me. It’s complicated.)
Later I discovered the joys of spinning, weaving, and basketry…which I suppose makes me a spinny, warped basket case. And of course there’s crochet, and embroidery, and cross-stitch, and…
Going to Pots…
Pottery seems truly magical, doesn’t it? To take nothing but a lump of mud, and create something delicate and beautiful. Given my archaeology background , it was almost inevitable that I’d have an affinity for ceramics. (Added to my affinity for any project that involves making a huge mess, and it truly was inevitable!)
As an undergrad I took a prehistoric pottery replication class. Many years later I found Bob Casias, an incredibly talented replicator, and took his workshop. He introduced me to the annual Southwest Kiln Conference, which has been a highlight of my year ever since.
What exactly is pottery replication? It is making pottery by recreating ancient techniques, as closely as we can based on the archaeological record. We dig the clay out of hillsides, we build the pots by hand (no pottery wheels here!), shape them and scrape them using pieces of gourd or broken pot, polish them until they are shiny using a smooth stone, and then paint them using boiled-down native plants with a piece of a yucca leaf for a brush (seriously!) We then commit our precious pieces to the mercies of the “fire gods” in an open fire. Sometimes, good things happen! Perhaps creating pottery out of mud is the ultimate in…
