It's official, Skew Gallery will be representing me and carrying my paintings, drawings and collage work in their inventory for sale. I am also pleased to announce that I will be mounting a solo exhibition, entitled "Simulca" at Skew Gallery between September 8th and October 7th, 2011. The opening will be on September 25th, 2011, coinciding with the ArtCity Festival.

I'm pleased to announce that my abstract painting, "Entropic 2" has been purchased by the Canada Council's ArtBank Collection. To date, my work has also been acquired by the ColArt Collection as well as numerous private collections across Canada, Germany and the United States.

The exhibition "Light Matter Research" is a collection of recent multi-medium works. It includes such things as oil pantings, works on paper, framed collage, digital prints, video loops, original cel drawings and a site-specific wall collage. I enjoyed producing artwork specifically for the unique space in Untitled Art Society and it was satisfying to see such a diverse collection of works coming together in a cohesive manner. The opening took place on a very cold January night (it was well below -30C) so I would like to thank everyone who braved the weather to come out.

Jane McQuitty, a local artist and curator, interviewed me and wrote an article to accompany the exhibition, it can be found, along with some wonderful photo documentation by Aran Wilkinson-Blanc in on the UAS website.

click here for photo and video documentation of past exhibitions

Good News! I've been offered a solo exhibition at Untitled Arts Society as part of The Triangle Gallery's "Québec Connection / Centennial Celebrations of Abstract Art - 7th Annual Winter Art Stroll" which invites Calgarians to spend Saturday, January 14th, 2011 visiting a number of participating art galleries in the downtown area who are mounting exhibitions around the theme of abstract painting. My exhibition, "Light matter Research" will run from January 14th to February 4th, and the opening will be during the Winter Stroll, Saturday, Jan 15th, between 1pm and 4pm.

I was recently interviewed by Avenue Magazine about my animation practice and the current film I'm working on. The resulting article, "Behind The Art" appears on page 30 of the November issue.

My art practice has branched out in many directions over the past couple of years, but in some ways it doubled over itself and burrowed in. I'm pleased to announce that Calgary gallery SQ Art Projects is showing a selection of my recent paintings in both acrylic and oil as well as a number of works on paper. "Radiant Array" presents the continued exploration of an abstract organic universe, oscillating between myopic peeps of accidental beauty and solid visions of expansive complexity and light. This world of ambiguous, but seemingly familiar form comes with its own set of personal icons, objects of focus that evoke the inner creative fire as well as connective synapsis lighting up in color.

I finished my first short film (complete with a soundtrack), "Painted Moon" in the fall of 2009. Since then it's been exhibited as part of an installation for ArtCity 2009 and had its theatrical debut on April 18th, at the Calgary Underground Film Festival. The event was really well attended and I'd like to thank all my friends and family who came out.

However, "Painted Moon" is not done with us yet. It has been invited to the Worldwide Short Film Festival, which runs from June 1st to 6th, 2010 in Toronto, ON.

I really enjoyed my trip in Montreal this summer and appreciate the opportunity I had to install the "Cosmic Wall" at Galerie Les Territoires. Everyone I met was so nice, supportive, and awesome and I hope for their continued success. (My friends Courtney, Nicole and Clement, my husband Chris, and my MFA thesis advisor Eliza Griffiths were also a giant help putting together the exhibition and I'm really grateful for that :). Thank yous go out to all parties involved.

This February, Les Territoires included my short video "Painted Moon" in their Sang Neuf performance night and screening. I wish I could have visited Montreal this time but alas, my jet-setter days are temporarily on hold. However, I hear the event went really well. Cheers!

"Leslie Bell's favourite book title is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". And in the Calgary-based abstract painter's world, light is most definitely a physical and heavy thing, manifesting in brilliant swaths of colour."
Mike Landry, thingsofdesire.ca

"...without a doubt, worth catching"
Jasia Stewart, midnight poutine.ca

So I was contacted by Mike Landry, the editor of the "Things of Desire" art blogzine, it seems the press for my upcoming exhibition had caught his eye and he wanted to do an interview. I was flattered and excited so I readily agreed. The article came out today and I must admit it's a bit eery and permanent to see yourself quoted by a writer in an article, especially from an interview situation where you're saying things off the top of your head. It left me wondering: how often do I really say really? The article is great though you can read it at thingsofdesire.ca

I'm very excited about launching my new website at lesliebell.ca . It doesn't have very many bells and whistles, but using a pre-made website template from otherpeoplespixels.com allows me to manage and update it all by myself, which is important considering the MILLIONS OF BILLIONS of artworks I'm planning on adding to my page in the future. I'm doubly excited that the domain name lesliebell.ca was available and that I didn't have to settle for a more convoluted name.