Leslie Sills

CV

Leslie Sills, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1948, is a painter, sculptor, writer, and art educator. With a degree in Psychology from Boston University, Sills studied, also, at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where after three years she was asked to be Instructor of Ceramics. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums throughout the country including The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, The Roosevelt House in N.Y.C., The Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC, The Henry Ford, Dearborn, MI, The George Washington University Museum, Washington, D.C., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, and others. The Fuller Craft Museum recently purchased Sills’ sculpture, Blue Hill Boy, for their permanent collection. 

In September 2022, Sills was honored as A Living Pioneer for Feminism and Artby the National College Art Association and The National Women’s Caucus for Art. In September 2023, Boston University honored Sills as a Distinguished Alumni and the recipient of The IDEAL Award for her support of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, and Leadership.

Sills has been a recipient of grants from The New England Foundation for the Arts/NEA, twice from The Artists Resource Trust, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and The Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. The Massachusetts Council for Art and Humanities named her a Finalist (for painting), as did The Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, and the Esther and Rudolph Gottlieb Foundation Grant in 2021. In 2019, Sills received the Blanche E. Colman Award. In addition, she was awarded residencies twice at Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, New York and at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine. 

Sills is also the author of four award winning art books written for older children. Sills’ books are in 4,000 libraries in 15 countries throughout the world.

While writing and creating her art, Sills transformed her home studio every afternoon into an art classroom for elementary school children after-school. There she encouraged her students, ages 6-13, to express their feelings with paper and paint, clay, cloth, fibers and more. Many of her students continued their art classes with her for their entire grammar school years and have continued their connection to her as adults.