by Matthew Rangel
In honor of Woman’s History month, the College of the Sequoias (COS) Art Gallery will be featuring the innovative paintings of Fresno artist Leslie Batty as part of a community-wide celebration. Batty’s solo exhibition titled Fitting the Subject/Object will be held March 7 through April 1. This exhibition is in conjunction with Arts Visalia’s Wo-man-ful-ly group exhibition being held March 2 – March 25. Along with these two exhibitions there will also be a quilts display in the COS Learning Resource Center, March 7 – March 31.
Piece by Leslie Batty, Lining: Chiasmus 1-3, 2009. Acrylic on canvas.
Leslie Batty’s paintings are extremely engaging and conceptually they “explore the ways in which cultural systems seek to construct our ideas of feminine identity within the context of our society, history, and culture,” stated Batty. Her artistic expression stems from growing up in a family of creative seamstresses, where she became proficient at creating her own clothes back in grade school. “Informed and inspired by memories of sewing with the women in my family, these paintings portray various stages of creating, fitting and wearing sewing pattern dresses.”
Her paintings combine a multitude of source materials into intricate and distinctive painted compositional explorations. One of Batty’s pieces in particular titled, Views and Codes #1-33, consists of thirty-three separate paintings arranged together in rows that combine colorful textile patterns, sewing diagrams, text, and faceless models posing with various garments all into one monumental display! “These representations come from my own questions regarding the feminine subject as a signifier, an object of desire and commodity, as well as a source of creativity and self-invention,” said Batty.
Native to the Central Valley, Leslie Batty was born in Fresno and currently lives in Clovis with her husband and children. She has earned degrees in Business Administration, English, and Art. She was recognized for her artistic achievement and promise when she was awarded the Dean’s Medal Nomination at the conclusion of both her undergraduate and graduate academic careers from the Fresno State Art and Design Department in 2006 and 2010. In 2004 she was chosen to be an artist in residence at the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art followed by an exhibition featuring her work. On several occasions she has studied painting and drawing in Florence, Italy where she has also exhibited her work. She currently works out of her art studio in Fresno’s downtown Corridor 2122 Gallery where she exhibits regularly. For more information you can visit Batty’s
website.
The opening reception for the group exhibition will be held on March 4 from 6-8 p.m., with a poetry reading by Sylvia Ross and musical performance by Patricia Rangel. The opening reception for Batty’s solo exhibition Fitting the Subject/Object, will be held on Thursday, March 10 from 5-7 p.m. Leslie Batty will be in attendance during the reception.
The gallery’s hours of operation are 11:00am to 3:00pm, Monday – Thursday and Fridays by appointment. For further questions, please find them on Facebook, or contact the gallery at 737-4861 or 730-3713. The gallery is located in the Kaweah building Rm. 214, College of the Sequoias, 915 S. Mooney Blvd. Visalia, CA 93277.
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