Leslie Lewis Sigler’s still life paintings of silver and copper heirlooms collect treasured family objects as families of objects. In Sigler’s work, an extensive collection of objects, histories, and emotional relations is brought vividly and suggestively to life. Each piece has its own unique story to tell, moments of polish and moments of tarnish. A series of portraits thus emerges whose enduring power and beauty reflect the depths of human character and the profound connectedness of shared history.
Domestic objects made of precious metals—flatware, vessels, molds, cutlery—have a kind of eternal life. They may age beyond recognition, but polishing them will soon recapture their original luster. Attending to the elegance of their form and the precision of their decorative flourishes, as well as to the play of light off their surfaces and even the shadows they cast, Sigler renders these singular objects in all their varied richness, elevating them beyond their mere functionality through a signature combination of near-photographic realism and painterly abstraction.
In this way, the work is about both aesthetic immediacy and symbolic significance. Just as Sigler herself is often reflected—visible, even if distorted—in the ever-changing patina of the cherished heirlooms she paints, so the objects come to reflect enduring and captivating histories. As they have been passed down from generation to generation and put to use at family gatherings, imagine all those who have been reflected in their gleam, brought together by the objects’ connecting force around the table. Or perhaps they were rediscovered at an estate sale or thrift shop, salvaged from the purgatory of resale, for new personal and family histories to be expressed. On the whole, Sigler’s paintings stand as invitations to see life reflected as part of an evolving lineage that crosses generations and geography, connecting us all through time and space.
Born in San Marcos, Texas, 1983
Lives and works in Soquel, California
Solo Exhibitions
2024 [Upcoming], Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2023 Love Language, Commerce Gallery, Lockhart, TX
2023 Blood Vessels, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023 Recent Paintings, George Billis Gallery, Fairfield, CT
2022 Once Removed, Jane Deering Gallery, Gloucester, MA
2022 Potluck, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021 Familiar, Commerce Gallery, Lockhart, TX
2021 Inherent, George Billis Gallery, Westport, CT
2020 Inherent, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY
2020 Belonging, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2018 Storytellers, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Silver and Grey, Jane Deering Gallery, Gloucester, MA
2015 Revival, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY
2014 Equipoise, Jane Deering Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2013 Relatives, Jane Deering Gallery, Gloucester, MA
2012 Relatives, The Architectural Foundation Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2011 Objects of My Reflection, Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Spring Showcase, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
In Feast or Famine, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
Winter Group Show, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Summer Salon, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2023
The Female Gaze, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2022
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2021
Real Women: Realist Art by American Women, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Juxtaposed, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Winter Group Show, George Billis Gallery, Westport, CT
2020
The San Francisco Fall Show, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2019
Mixology, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Getting Real, Chautauqua Institution Gallery, Chautauqua, NY
Size Doesn’t Matter: Food for Thought, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2018
JuxtaPOSE: An Exploration of Portaiture, Santa Barbara Arts Fund, Santa Barbara, CA
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2017
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2016
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Joie de Vivre, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Montecito, CA
2015
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Summer Group Show, George Billis Gallery, New York, New York
2014
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2013
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, Best in Show Award
2012
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA
2011
100 Grand, Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
5×5: An Invitational, Westmont Museum of Art, Montecito, CA
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, First Place Award
Santa Barbara Art Roots: Celebrating 60 Years, Channing Peake Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2010
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Views and Visions: Travelers, Westmont Museum of Art, Montecito, CA
2009
Small Images, Atkinson Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
Views and Visions: Interior Space, Westmont Museum of Art, Montecito, CA
art fairs
2023 PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022 Art Market San Francisco, George Billis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022 Palm Springs Modernism, George Billis Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2018 Palm Springs Art Fair, George Billis Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2017 SOFA Chicago, George Billis Gallery, Chicago, IL
2017 Palm Springs Art Fair, George Billis Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2015 Red Dot Art Fair, George Billis Gallery, Miami, FL
BIBLIOGRAPHY/PUBLICATION
WHAT Women Create, Spring 2024
Create! Magazine, Issue 42; Spring 2024
Content Magazine, Issue 15.3; Summer 2023
Edible Monterey Bay; Summer 2022
Texas Monthly; May 24, 2021
Austin American Statesman; May 18, 2021
San Marcos Daily Record; May 1, 2021
International Artist Magazine; April 2021
American Art Collector; December 2020
American Art Collector; November 2018
805 Living Magazine; December 2017
Silver: Nature & Culture; Lindsay Shen, 2017
Santa Barbara Magazine; Spring 2016
Santa Barbara Sentinel; January 2016
American Art Collector; December 2015
San Marcos Daily Record; November 8, 2015
UPPERCASE Magazine, Issue 23; October 2014
Santa Barbara News-Press, Scene Magazine; May 9, 2014
Victoria Magazine; January/February 2014
Between Seer and Seen; Mark Robert Halper, 2013
Santa Barbara City College, The Channels; October 7, 2013
designsponge.com, April 2013
Santa Barbara News-Press, Scene Magazine; May 25, 2012
UPPERCASE Magazine; Issue 10, July 2011
The Santa Barbara Independent; July 21, 2011
Santa Barbara News-Press, Scene Magazine; July 8, 2011
The Santa Barbara Independent, May, 2011
Santa Barbara News-Press, Scene Magazine; April 1, 2011
Santa Barbara News-Press, Scene Magazine; June 4, 2010
1000 Handmade Greetings, Rockport Publishers, 2008
Analecta Literary Magazine, 2002
EDUCATION
BFA, University of Texas at Austin
BIOGRAPHY
Born in central Texas, Leslie Lewis Sigler studied painting at the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2008 she has made the central coast of California home and has exhibited in solo and group shows nationally. Sigler credits two characters in her life for planting the “heirloom seeds” of her art practice today: her elegant, classy grandmother and her eccentric godmother-in-law. Both women gifted the artist family silver whether she liked it or not. Since 2011 she has been scavenging and painting family heirlooms while witnessing their stories and histories unfold as she translates their portraits to panel and canvas. Sigler lives in Soquel, California with her husband and two young sons.
representation
George Billis Gallery, New York, Los Angeles, Connecticut
Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara,CA
Commerce Gallery, Lockhart, TX
