The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Bio
Leslie Norman is primarily a self-taught photographer. She draws inspiration from the world around her as well a from the early years of photography as an art form. Common themes include portraiture, dilapidated architecture, crumbling people, photograms, and experimental printing techniques. She shoots black and white film, working in 35mm and medium format, processing and printing by hand out of her home darkroom. She lives in Mount Vernon, Ohio with her husband, two daughters, old cats, and five chickens.
Artist Statement
“The idea behind my work is to challenge myself and the viewer to stretch what we think of as photography both in method and subject. Photography is unique as an art form because it inherently deals with reality. I would like to bend that principle. I embrace this task by using fringe elements of darkroom practice together in interesting ways. For example, by creating double exposures with multiple negatives sandwiched together, photograms – objects on/ between the paper and enlarger, and photo collage. These elements often merge to make one image – which in many cases cannot be replicated, unlike making a conventional print from a single negative. Surrealism and abstract impossibilities interest me greatly, as does the irony and absurdity of everyday life. I invite the viewer to ponder the manifestation and find the significance within.” -LN