From misfit to artist

Artwork special to Alachua County Today

This piece was inspired by a view from CR 235A in Alachua. Pebbles draws her insiration from scenery.

ALACHUA – It has been a long road for Alachua resident Leslie Pebbles, who started out being a misfit in a New Jersey suburban school and has since become an award-winning artist at the age of 54.

“I just didn’t fit in when I was in elementary school,” she said. “My mother got into an accident when I was in the fifth grade and my grades plummeted.” Eventually, her mother recovered and Peebles was moved to a private school where she was exposed to art instruction for the first time.

“Suddenly, I went from the worst student in school to one of the best,” she said. “In the areas of music, theatre, creative writing and visual arts, I was in my element.”

That success gave Peebles back her confidence and self-esteem and her grades improved dramatically. When she was in the seventh grade, her father gave up his corporate job in New York City and moved the family to a chicken farm in nearby Suwannee County, where she graduated from Suwannee High School.

Living in the country sensitized Peebles to nature, animals and the land.

“That’s where my whole esthetic came from,” she said. “I hated the suburbs and moving to the farm was like waking up in heaven to me.”

Eventually she earned her B.A. in fine arts and found herself teaching art at an area school. That’s where she eventually discovered the perfect artistic medium for her.

“I knew how to produce different types of art, but I just couldn’t wrap my mind around how I wanted to translate what I saw and enjoyed in nature into actual art for others to enjoy,” she said.

As it turned out, one art teacher’s frustration in teaching block-carving turned into a golden opportunity for Peebles and her students. The frustrated art teacher turned over all of her materials to Peebles.

“I couldn’t have afforded to buy all of those items myself at that time,” she said. “So it was a great gift to me and my classes.”

After teaching and working with block-carving and block printing with her students for a few years, she realized she had done a tremendous amount of work and was enjoying it more and more.

“I decided it was the perfect medium for me,” she said, “and have now been doing it seriously for 15 years.”

Block-carving or linoleum-carving, as it is also called, allows her to produce her art in such a way as to make it affordable to the average person, Peebles said.

“As a middle-class girl myself, I wanted my art to be affordable for the average person,” she said. “I can put 20 or 30 hours into a piece and still keep my prices reasonable,” she said.

In addition, Peebles finds block carving to be a portable medium. “I can work on it at home or go into nature with it,” she said.

Living on five acres of land in Alachua, she finds inspiration close to home.

“We have foxes living next door in the woods, we have a neighborhood gopher tortoise and various other animals that travel through from time-to-time,” she said.

She also finds inspiration at the local springs, on Rum Island and at the Santa Fe River, but does not limit herself to local areas. Although her Swallowtail Kites composition was drawn from a view of a field off of County Road 235A, her Alligator composition was inspired partly by Paynes Prairie and partly by a trip to the Everglades.

As part of her process, Peebles draws or photographs items on the spot when she finds something interesting. Once the block has been carved, Peebles prints her carvings at Sweetwater Print Cooperative in Gainesville, using an oil-based ink. She is then able to hand paint using water colors onto each one of her prints.

Peebles taught art for 17 years, but has been a fulltime artist for only the past four years. She was 50 before she started going to art shows and festivals.

“I applied to the prestigious Coconut Grove Show my first year, which is a very difficult show to get into,” she said.

Not only did she get in, but she won first place in printmaking in her first year.

“That was a complete surprise,” she said. Since then, she has won awards each year at Coconut Grove and several others.

Peebles will be demonstrating her linoleum block-carving and art-printing processes on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, at the Third Annual Gathering of the Artists holiday show in Gainesville, her second year being invited to the event.

“It’s a wonderful show and I enjoy doing my demonstrations and answering visitors’ questions,” she said.

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