Click thumbnail to view full image. Thumbnail may be cropped.

1. Blood, 2009, video still
2. Rest, 2009, video still
3. Void, 2009, video still
4. Surfing’s Hard, 2009, video still
5. Shark Attack, 2009, video still
6. Shark Attack, 2009, video still

back to top

Click thumbnail to view full image. Thumbnail may be cropped.

1. Unbearingable House, 2007, installation and performance, 19’ x 19’ x 8’
2. Unbearingable House, 2007, installation and performance, 19’ x 19’ x 8’
3. Wigberta, Cotton and polyester fiberfill, 28”x14”x6”, 2007

back to top

Click thumbnail to view full image. Thumbnail may be cropped.

1. Appreciation Note, 2008, ink on paper, 3” x 3”
2. 2 of 10, 2008, ink on paper, 3” x 3”
3. Tieless, 2008, colored pencil on paper, 6” x 6”
4. Introspect, 2009, gouache on paper, 11” x 14”
5. Origin, 2009, gouache on paper, 11” x 14”
6. Tieser, 2009, mixed media, 8-1/2” x 11”

back to top

Contact Information
1850 N. Hope Street, #11
Philadelphia, PA 19122
tel: 443-983-4651
e-mail: rogers.leslie.a@gmail.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Statement
The speaker’s face is visible, but their identity has been scantily removed. The viewer is invited through the intimate portal of the face to the space of the psyche in which meaning is constructed. Puppets are often caused to behave absurdly, flailing and using puppet voices to share silly puppet thoughts. No matter what a puppet does, its absurdity is nearly impermeable and easily preserved.

A non-puppet actor, who is present both as actor and character, can play a person who is doing something meaningful, but that doesn’t necessarily make their act of acting meaningful.

A puppeteer, present as character only, can operate a material object in a meaningful act, but that doesn’t necessarily make the act of puppetry meaningful.

In this case, the body puppet conceals enough identity to present viewers with a real person’s meaningful act of making meaning. The thought processes depicted here are not conversational, but introverted. The verbal statements are the result of a prolonged prompt to think out loud without response.

Education
2007
Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD
BFA, Fine Art, Cum Laude

2006
Centre d’Art et de Culture, Aix-en-Provence, France

Professional Experience

2009
Puppet maker, The Arden Theater, Philadelphia, PA
production of Peter Pan

Puppet maker, Walking Fish Theater, Philadelphia, PA
production of The Good Puppet of Szechuan

Teaching Artist-in-Residence, Oasis Art Center, Philadelphia, PA

Seamstress, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA

Costumer, 2009 Victory for Tyler exhibition/performance for Josh Kerner, Joseph diGuiseppe, and Chris Golas, Philadelphia, PA

Puppet maker and puppeteer, Mathematical Park, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA

2008 - present
Puppet maker, Whitebox Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
productions of Sea of Birds, and David Kennedy

Fabricator, Free People, Urban Outfitters, Philadelphia, PA

Puppet Wrangler and set design/construction, PBS Sprout Network, The Sharing Show, Philadelphia, PA

2008

Costume design, Ramshackle Enterprises, Mite We? Philadelphia, PA

Selected Exhibtions

Solo

2009
Chinnin' Out, InLiquid at International House, Philadelphia, PA

2008
Unbearingable House, Black Sheep Puppet Festival,
Pittsburgh, PA

2007
Blank Relations, Jungle Science Art Laboratories,
Binghamton, NY

2006
Exposition, Centre d’Art et de Culture, Aix-en-Provence, France

Group

2009
Celebration of Eventfulness, Monkeytown, New York, NY

OVC, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA

The South Philly Boat Show, Storage, Philadelphia, PA

VoxV, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA

Pededstrian Service Exquisite, Transmodern Arts Festival,
Baltimore, MD

Origins, Neues Museum für Kunst und Design,
Nurenberg, Germany

Collections, COPY Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2008
Performance in conjunction with The Soft Epic, or Savages of the Pacific Northwest by Nadia Hironaka and Mattew Suib, Icebox, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA

Made Home, Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2006
Exposition, Centre d’Art et de Culture, Aix-en-Provence, France

Selected Performance
2009
Puppeteer, The Dirt Cheap Circus, Bread and Puppet Theater

Dancer and Puppeteer, 27 Dirt Cheap Money Dances, by Lubberland National Dance Co.

2008
Shadow and Projection Puppeteer, Flight by Erik Ruin

Actor, Disaster Banana by Beth Nixon and Ramshackle Enterprises

Puppeteer and Actor, The Soldier and the Phoenix, Morgan Andrews and Shoddy Puppet Company

2007
Puppeteer, Peoplehood, Spiral Q Puppet Theater

2006
Puppeteer, The Victory Circus, Bread and Puppet Theater

Dancer, Dances of the Correct Moment, Lubberland National Dance Company