Libraries aren't just for books! I’m very excited to say that I have been invited to participate in the Lake Oswego Reads program.
In addition to being an author, Wilson is the former Executive Director for Dream of Wild Health, an Indigenous non-profit farm, and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, a national coalition of tribes and organizations working to create sovereign food systems for Native people. Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendant, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation. The Seed Keeper This dense, multi-layered story is about Rosalee Ironwing Meister, a Native American Dakota woman, and her quest to become whole. Interwoven into the story is the recounting of her ancestors’ struggle to survive the “Indian Wars,” relocations, boarding schools, and the collective trauma caused by these events. Throughout the book, the theme of seeds, traditions being handed down, and the evolution of farming techniques binds it all together. My inspiration and interpretation In this piece, I integrate several objects and moments in time into a single image.
The books protagonist, Rosalie Ironwing is a loner. She has had a tumultuous and insecure young life.
When John dies, she goes on a quest to make peace with her past, and in so doing regains contact with her family and her heritage.
I see the envelope, the pouches, and even the old white farmhouse as being safe places for seeds and souls to rest and incubate. From that place of rest, growth is possible. Creating an encaustic-like effect The technique I used to make this piece is part of a new method of artmaking for me. I wished to create an encaustic-like effect by using layers of different types of acrylic media. Encaustic is painting with hot wax. It is an ancient painting medium that has seen a rebirth since the 1990's. Because it is wax, it has a beautiful, foggy opacity. The wax can be applied and fused in layers, so there are often multiple images peeking through, creating depth. First, I drew and painted the main image. Then I covered it with Golden Clear Leveling Gel, then Golden Heavy Matte Gel. Then I drew the house/envelope. I added more color and detail to it. Then, using a scumbling technique, I intensified the white snow in the center of the image by adding titanium white and pearlescent silver. Many of the effects and details cannot be properly seen in a photograph, because there is depth iridescence and a wee bit of sparkle. The Lake Oswego Reads Art Exhibition will hang at The Dee Denton Gallery in the Lakewood Center for the Arts, then move to multiple venues throughout the state of Oregon.
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But ADD is also closely associated with having a creative mind. Artistic mind, attention deficit disorder, who knows where one ends and the other begins? Distracted Mind, Artistic Mind
My mind is not organized. Information comes in the form of so many scraps of paper, fluttering about in the wind. Projects or professions that involve any complexity seems like an insurmountable undertaking. But, I recently learned something sort of fun about my mind, and how it likes to organize itself. I was trying to develop some sort of regular, consistent, doable habit in regards to posting on social media about my art. “Everyone” was buzzing about social media. You know, “Everyone," don’t you? “Everyone” says:
And so on, and so on. All that resulted from this was a panicky sense of dread. Enter, the Mind Map  Here is all is. I spent hours on this silly thing. I tried to impress my friends by sharing it with them, but they didn’t even want to LOOK at it, and who could blame them? It seems overly elaborate and faintly ridiculous now, but the one most important thing is also true: now I know. Now I know. Social media is no longer confusing to me. I may need a reminder of the specifics, but the tiny scraps of paper have settled down into an orderly pattern. Now I understand. As I just wrote about in my post “Evolve or Die,” I revealed that I am starting on a new body of work, inspired by archeology and deep history. It’s really exciting, and really scary. For the first time in many years, I genuinely have no idea what I am doing. It will be an adventure into the unknown. I am an avid consumer of archeology media and entertainment. Over the years, I have absently absorbed scraps of information. Over time, these bits of information started to formulate themselves into a loose, fluttery vision of the world. I became filled with the desire to understand these little scraps in context, in an order, like maybe a mind map… or maybe… a time-line. Enter, the Time-line  Fueled with this new obsession, I knew that I was not going to be able to commence on my new journey of art-making without tackling this. I took a large roll of paper, rolled it out on my wall and tacked in down. I decided on a very general form: seven areas of the planet, drawn with seven horizontal lines. The time demarcations will be the vertical axis. But, I am still not sure what time periods I am going to depict, and where they will land. So, I started to write bits of information I find intriguing on bits of rice paper, and started to tape them up at various places. Everything at this point is in flux and movable. I feel like a mad scientist. Enter, the Mad Scientist I have recently learned from The Google that there is a thing called “The Crazy Wall.” It’s a meme, stemming from the media’s dramatic use of an “evidence board” real detectives use to solve crimes. It was used to most dramatic effect in the 2001 movie *“A Beautiful Mind.”  Scene from A Beautiful Mind, 2001 For the first time in a long while, I am creating something that I have no real intention of putting on display or trying to sell. Somehow, I just know I need to do this. I need to capture and contain what I know, but cannot yet use. Something that simply comes out of my beautiful mind. My beautiful, inefficient, scattered, forgetful, creative, artistic mind. A video of me about to dive into the time-line. *Please note that A Beautiful Mind is a movie about schizophrenia, not about a mild case of neurodivergence, like I have. I am using the evidence board in the movie as a symbol for the way I process information, and is not intended to make light of schizophrenia or mental illness and its effects.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Final Entry! So, Why Noir? Being an artist may look like fun, but it is tough. Putting yourself out there for others to see is perennially disquieting. In order to make it all worth it, the subject and method has to be captivating.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Miss Darger II 24x30 I am compelled to tell a story with my art. No matter if it is based on Shakespeare, mythology, or film noir, I am driven to explore and share the landscape of my imagination.
For now, I am entirely caught up in the dark labyrinth of film noir. But who knows what future stories my art will tell? Need more noir? Check out The Film Noir Foundation, which restores films noir and shows them at their film festivals. It's founder, the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, is also a host on TCM's Noir Alley, which shows films noir every Saturday night and Sunday mornings. Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #9
The themes are universal and can be ascribed to any individual. So, I can change the outer identities of my characters, and it can still be noir.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Bars 16x20 The scenes in my artwork are presented without irony and are imbued with an immediacy which invites the viewer to experience the scene as a contemporary moment.
The adaptability of film noir characters allows me to enlarge the limits of my understanding and expression.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Keys 40x48 Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #8 When we are engrossed in a mystery novel, the complicated plot tangles we must unravel keep us entranced.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Pursuit 24x48 The characters in noir are caught in a web of intrigue and moral ambiguity. Their exploits involve daring and danger, plot twists and betrayals. They usually believe they can manipulate a situation to their advantage over another. The dream I weave in my paintings is a version of myself who is, in a word: clever. Very unlike who I really am.
Like getting into a good novel or movie, my paintings invite you to take time and decipher what is being presented.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Many a Moon 38x38 Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #7 A long time ago, a wise friend counseled me, saying “Romance is about NOT being fulfilled, it’s about longing.”  ©lesliepetersonsapp Vacancy 48x40 The characters in film noir practice a lot of bad behavior. They smoke and drink, lie, cheat, extort and manipulate.
You could say I vicariously through my own art.
Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #6 How many times have you said to yourself, "this is a bad idea,"- then went ahead and did it anyway?
This is the essence of the typical male protagonist in film noir. A guy who is presented with a choice, and even though it is a bad idea, he goes forward with his instincts, his craving, his desire, his compulsion, his desperate need, instead of what we know would be the right choice. He must live, or die, by that fateful decision. We watch the drama unfold, unable to look away.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Backlight 38x48 Men have their own particular burden to carry. They are supposed to do, to achieve, attain, and win. But the world does not have a level playing field. Additionally, he knows that when the going gets tough, he's the one who is expected to run into the fray, stare it down and fix it. But what if it is unfixable? The strive to win against all odds is often what motivates Antihero- or the giving up is what fuels his self-destruction. The Homme Fatale Not all Fatales are Femme. Any androsexual will tell you so.
But this is an illusion. Another cathartic mechanism in the fantasy world of film noir. In the real world, such men are exasperating at best- dangerous at worst.
But here we must ask the age-old question; is the catharsis we gain from art worth the messaging it perpetuates?  ©lesliepetersonsapp The Boxer 30x40 Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #5
Fatal: 1. a. causing death b. bringing ruin c. causing failure 2. a. determining one's fate b. of or relating to fate c. resembling fate in proceeding according to a fixed sequence Put them both together, and it becomes: Femme Fatale: 1. a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations 2. a woman who attracts men by an aura of charm and mystery
But I like to think of her in astrological terms. Astrologically, nemesis is a theoretical star that may have once been a twin star of our sun. A Femme Fatale is a mysterious dark star, a nemesis to the bright, sunny fairy tale princess of my childhood. But if she is so evil, why do we love her so much? Be good, be patient, look pretty and maybe the prince will come and save you. I was taught that as a girl, it was the foundation of my world view and identity. I had no examples of powerful, non-domestic women in my life. Into this vacuum stepped the only example of feminine power available to me: the Femme Fatale.
But all the while, I still rejoice in the cathartic glorification of my dark princess, the lost twin star, our nemesis, the Femme Fatale. Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #4 Any artist will tell you, the key to artistic maturity is to discover one's own unique, consistent language. I seek to find a balance of representation and abstraction. Modern Art, and design in the Modernist period dealt with this specifically.
While experts say Modernism died with the onslaught of WWII, I think it was a part of the cultural zeitgeist well afterwards, especially in popular culture.  Blind Minotaur Led through the Night by Girl with Fluttering Dove, Picasso, 1935 My style is evocative of the painting and graphic arts that were contemporary with the hey-day of film noir. So, not only do I learn from films noir directly, I also love the style of the era, and let this inform the way I choose to depict the subject.
Much like how I engage with the subject of film noir, I like to find the essence of what I am seeing and try to express it with forthright simplicity.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Glass Houses 30x28 Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #3 Many film noir aficionados know that American film noir was born from German Expressionism,
 ©lesliepetersonsapp Lamplight 40x48 I have become better at marshaling the elements of design, such as value, arrangement, and scale. I believe these skills transcend any specific style and will translate to other subjects as my creative interests evolve.  ©lesliepetersonsapp Exit 28x18 Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.
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