Each artist creates art for a personal and
individual purpose. Some may use their art for expression or to make a
statement about themselves or their culture and society. Others use their talent
to create works simply for the enjoyment or pleasure of those who experience
it. Still others create for themselves, to fill a hole, bring themselves joy,
contentment, release; their art becomes an outlet and a place to be with
oneself. While it is not uncommon for artists to create their works for
multiple reasons, Leslie Hamlin creates her art chiefly to bring peace and calm
into her life, to balance the otherwise hectic experience of living a farmer’s
life near Vale, NC.
A
self-taught artist, Leslie creates works that vary from handcrafted jewelry and
hand-bound books to her paintings on reclaimed wood, in addition to her felted
works that are available in the HMA Galleria. The variety of her art is due to
her tendency to work with whatever art form “happen[s] to strike [her] in the
moment,” a reflection of her purpose in creating art- to bring peace and calm
to her life, and to organically create as she sees fit.
In
her felted pieces in particular, the wool is locally sourced as frequently as
is possible, while the “accessories” of the figurines are either salvaged or hand-crafted
by Leslie herself. Additionally, her felt dolls are needle-felted and sculpted,
giving each one a unique character and personality, which in turn serves to
illustrate the singular creativity that stems from the creation of art for the
sake of art.
