August 2015

Age Old
Digital collage, 13” x 18”
by Leslie Elliottsmith

The elaborate frieze work and embellished archways of Nottoway Plantation’s White Ballroom provide the backdrop for Leslie Elliottsmith’s “Age Old,” in which the Alexandria artist explores the eternal question: which came first, the chicken or the egg. In this work and her other digital collages, Elliottsmith considers renewal, the implacability of Nature, and the impact of man’s hand on the Louisiana landscape. “This piece is about the fact that man is constantly building elaborate structures to place his footprint on his environment,” she explained. “Those big plantations were built to make an impression about the owner’s wealth and power. But even though man puts this big show on, unless he is there to maintain the place, it’s all going back to the earth eventually.”

Although she started as a painter, (she earned her MFA in Printmaking at LSU), Elliottsmith has found herself focusing more on digital photography in recent years. “I don’t think of myself as an excellent photographer,” she said. “What I’m doing is painting with images.” With Adobe Photoshop as her toolkit, the artist assembles digital collages often consisting of thirty or forty layers, combining multiple photographs to create her ethereal, otherworldly environments. Reproductions printed on archival rag paper are available for sale. See more of Leslie Elliottsmith’s work at LeMieux Galleries in New Orleans or at artelliottsmith.com.