About Leslie
Bio
Leslie (Brown) Volle (b. 1957, Houston, TX) is a painter who was raised in a family of artists on Staten Island, New York. Leslie has shown her work in solo and group exhibitions across the United States and internationally.
Leslie holds a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, and an MA-TESOL/Linguistics from State University of New York, Stony Brook. Leslie lives and works in New York City with a second studio for encaustic painting in Sayville, New York.
Statement
Emotions are our biggest mystery and the strongest connections between creatures. The rhythms and gestures of leaves and branches feel very human. I search for information in the gestures of the leaves and the complexity of our emotions in the colors. I am interested in a visual language for sharing and connecting through emotions. Do emotions mingle like a fog? Do they entwine with other emotions? Do they crash against others like waves?
My work is the combination of emotions we communicate, intentionally and unintentionally. I use line, color, and trees as a visual language to express the complexity of our feelings. The wax translates layered social transparency into form.
My process begins with drawing plants by observing patterns and spatial relationships. The plants become abstract compositions inspired by social interactions. Branches stiffen and leaves shrivel, forming familiar human gestures. The leaf gestures carry information, and the colors convey emotion. Plants, like people, shrink and wrinkle into their essence.
I work with beeswax, resin, and pigment on wooden panels. This encaustic process, used on ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, depends on temperature and time. The wax can resemble human skin or ceramic tile. The layering process, essential to hot wax encaustic painting, explores transparency and connection. My work ranges from hand-sized to human-sized. This reflects the dichotomy between introverted and extroverted expressions of emotion.
Each painting grows through a back-and-forth dialogue. I add and respond to layers until the colors and forms cohere into a unified whole. Color defines the space around the plants, creating relationships. I respond intuitively to the work as it exposes complex colors and forms. I focus on depth and movement. The plants connect through space, as people connect through dance and gesture.
CV
LESLIE B. VOLLE
(She/Her)
b. 1957 in Houston, TX. Lives in New York, NY
EDUCATION
2021 — NYSCA/NYFA Artist as Entrepreneur Program Huntington Arts Council, Huntington, NY
2010 — Workshop “Advanced Teaching Encaustic” R&F Encaustics, Long Island City, NY
2002 — Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages/Linguistics, SUNY Stony Brook, NY
1981 — Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting and Printmaking, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 — Twig Stories, Kleinhelter Gallery, New Albany, IN
2014 — Circledale to Library Lane: Encaustic Paintings, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY
1996 — LBVolle Recent Paintings, East End Arts Council, Riverhead, NY
1994 — LBVolle Recent Paintings, Sea Cliff Gallery, Sea Cliff, NY
1982 — Solo Drawing Exhibition, Cerrillos Cafe, Cerrillos, NM
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 — Transcultural Exchange Global Broadcast Exhibition, (video exhibition, work appears beginning at minute 17:30) Boston, MA
2025 — 39th Annual Bradley International Print & Drawing Exhibition, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
2021 — Small Works Show, Kleinhelter Gallery, New Albany, IN
2019 — Spring Invitational, Kleinhelter Gallery, New Albany, IN
2019 — Encaustic and Etchings, Public Library, Sayville, NY
2014 — Span and Dialogue American Contemporary Print Exhibition, Guanlan, China
2014 — Patchworks 2014 Juried Exhibition, Patchogue Arts Center, Patchogue, NY
2014 — Member's Juried Show, Guild Hall, Southampton, NY | Juror: Robert Storr
2013 — Art Biologic, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY
2002 — Opening Exhibition, Pitcher-Masters Gallery, Deer Island, ME
1995 — 20th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibition, Smithtown Township Arts Council, Smithtown, NY
1995 — Juried Painting Show, East End Arts Council, Riverhead, NY
1994 — Small Works International, Amos Eno Gallery, New York, NY
1993 — Juried Painting Show, Sea Cliff Gallery, Sea Cliff, NY
1993 — 38th Annual Exhibition, Huntington Township Art League, Huntington, NY
1991 — Women in the Visual Arts Drawing Exhibition, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT
1984 — Multimedia Show, Village Voice Bookstore Gallery, Paris, France
1981 — Senior Painting Show, Kansas City Art Institute, Kemper Gallery, Kansas City, MO
AWARDS
1995 — Best in Show, Juried Painting Show, East End Arts Council, Riverhead, NY
1995 — Honorable Mention, Member's Juried Show, Guild Hall, Southampton, NY | Juror: Robert Storr
1993 — Best in Show, Juried Painting Show, Sea Cliff Gallery, Sea Cliff NY
RESIDENCIES
2021 — NYSCA/NYFA Artist as Entrepreneur Program, Huntington Art Council, Huntington, NY
2017 — Jenny House Residency, Baie Sainte-Marie, New Edinburgh, Nova Scotia, Canada
2014 — Guanlan Original Printmaking Base Residency, Guanlan, China
2012 — Artists Invite Artists Program, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, ME
COLLABORATIONS & COMMISSIONS
2016 — Délivrances, Virtual Exhibition on Ce qui reste | Contemporary Poetry Review with poems by Jennifer Barber selected from The Sliding Boats Our Bodies Made
1987 — Set design and production for “New and Recent Dances” by Betsy Hultin, Sponsored by Performance Space 122
PUBLICATIONS
“Span and Dialogue American Contemporary Print Exhibition Catalog,” Guanlan, China, 2014
PRESS
Lisa Zamm, “Encaustic & Etchings” Patch.com/New York, Jan. 31, 2019
H. Harrison, “20th Annual Juried Fine Arts Exhibition” New York Times, Sunday Nov. 12, 1995
Phyllis Braff, “Art: L.B.Volle,” New York Times, Sunday May 8, 1994
Helen Harrison, “Art Review,” New York Times, Long Island Section, Sunday May 23, 1993