Edited by Yimeng Sun
Leslie Drennan: (https://lesliedrennan.com/)
Leslie Drennan is the first recipient of the Liu Shiming Scholarship at The Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State University. Leslie is currently a first-year MFA student majoring in sculpture. She specializes in woodworking, carving, sculpture, and ceramics. Her artistic goal is to create functional artworks that draw attention to human impacts on nature by using locally sourced materials and recycling waste. She intends to maintain a sustainable art practice throughout her own artistic journey. Wade Weast, dean at the School of Art & Design, emphasized Drennan’s desire to “create work that explores the themes of domesticity, labor, and matriarchy while mindfully considering the source of her materials.”
Leslie Drennan, More Construction Debris, 2022,
sidewalk, asphalt, brick, concrete.
photograph courtesy of the artist
Leslie’s art practices are rooted in local communities, and she translates such connections with the community that she lives in the language of arts by using locally or historically reclaimed materials. As Liu Shiming focused on documenting the daily lives of ordinary people in the surrounding, she also saw herself within Liu’s exhibited artworks.Leslie also says that she found wood to be a significant source of inspiration to her because of the everyday nature of wood, and its potential to be converted into something treasurable with craftsmanship
Leslie Drennan, Vase series
photograph courtesy of the artist
Leslie expresses her gratitude for being chosen as the Liu Shiming Scholars Fund recipient this year. The late artist Liu Shiming is prolific in using bronze, which is a high-skill material that a lot of universities do not offer for students’ art practices. As Leslie has mentioned, the scholarship opens up new possibilities such as explorations on bronze for her in regards to the materials for art making.