Lee Langdon

I consider this show to be a graduating portfolio. I am a self-taught fiber artist, understanding that self-taught only means not using an art school or university program.  During the pandemic I was blessed to be able to explore many media and techniques, utilizing CreativeBug (offered for free through our County Library), You-Tube, Instagram and several guided forays with two different groups of artists meeting over Zoom.  As a result, each piece is quite different in color, media, subject matter and approach. Looking at the whole, though one can see that each reflects a different part of my personality, as well as my history.  Army Brats move around a lot, and by staying in my home in Sudden Valley for the fifteen months of the pandemic, I was able to experience the changes in light through the winter, the routines of the seasons, and how art enlarges a tiny existence. 

I was able to explore my own family history, through Ancestry.com (again, from our library) but looked at it from the mothers’ perspective.  I had grown up only knowing my family back to my immigrant grandparents.  Now I had the names of three more grands and great-grands. Adding my own grandchild to the mix, I could trace mothers through 6 generations. I captured this in the deeply personal “Family Threads.”

An offhand comment about my dress resulted in two pieces. I would love to dress as a Rich Bohemian, though I make do with “artsy clothes” and “wearable art”. My extreme traveling is the source of “Woven Circle” which I completed in a weaving class in New Zealand.  And while traveling, I often check out native dress.  I was bemoaning our lack of such when I realized that jeans and a tee shirt is our “national dress”…an homage to Denim  and Blue Jeans.

I am proud to be a bleeding-heart liberal, and spend many hours working for social justice.  My reasoning is less political than emotional…my heart goes out to so many people who have less than I do…particularly the sick and dying.  With COVID so brutal, I wanted to capture all those emotions.

And while I am less nature and the environment-oriented than many of my friends, I must acknowledge Sudden Valley’s impact on my soul. The birds and the tree reflect that part of who I am.

So I have gone through a maze to get to this ripe age; this show might amaze you in capturing such a varied life: Army Brat, Corporate Executive, Mother, Daughter, Sister, step-Mother, Grandmother, Board Member, Seeker, and Artist.