Leslie Erganian is an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Her work as an artist includes

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

, assemblage, and

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

. She is the co-author of the book NEW WEST: Innovating at the Intersection.

Life

Leslie Erganian was born in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated in ...

, attended

William Fremd High School William Fremd High School, or Fremd (initially Palatine High School South), is a public four-year high school located in Palatine, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District ...

, and began her undergraduate studies as a pre-med biology student at the

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universi ...

. In her sophomore year, she transferred to the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

where she found her calling in the arts, studying photography under

Joe Deal Joseph Maurice Deal (August 12, 1947 – June 18, 2010) was an American photographer who specialized in depicting how the landscape was transformed by people. Life and work Deal was born in Topeka, Kansas on August 12, 1947, and was raised in ...

and art history under Dr. Richard Carrott. She received a BA with a dual major in fine art and art history. She returned to Illinois to obtain a MFA in photography under Jerry Savage and

Barbara Degenevieve Barbara DeGenevieve (1947–2014) was an American interdisciplinary artist who worked in photography, video, and performance. She lectured widely on her work and on subjects including human sexuality, gender, transsexuality, censorship, eth ...

, and thereafter found representation by the Phyllis Needleman Gallery in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where she exhibited a series of hand painted photographic self-portraits exploring fairy tale mythology. Her maternal ancestry includes her Great Grandfather

David McHattie Forbes David McHattie Forbes (21 July 1863 – 23 March 1937) was a Scottish botanist, ethnologist, sugarcane plantation manager and explorer on the island of Hawai'i. He practised forestry, agronomy, and horticulture and served as the first district ...

, a foreman Forrester in Scotland and Hawai’i, and her Welsh maternal Great Grandmother, Catherine Lougher Forbes. She returned to California on a graduate fellowship to obtain a second MFA from the

UCLA Film School The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

and representation by the Marilyn Pink Gallery in Los Angeles. In 1994, Erganian first appeared on film in ''

Radio Inside ''Radio Inside'' is a 1994 American drama film, written and directed by Jeffrey Jackson Bell. Plot Having graduated from college, Matthew Anderson travels to Florida to spend some time with his older brother while deciding what career to pursue. ...

'' starring

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films ''The Karate Kid'' (1984), ''Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), '' Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' B ...

, a film that she also art directed. Additional project contributions were for clients including

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. These include ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

'', '' Speechless'', and ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' for

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...

. In 1996, she established her own label, Lost Continents, creating fine and functional art and interiors for clients in the entertainment industry as well as for select stores throughout Los Angeles. In 1998, she began appearing regularly on television as a creative consiglieri. Her first guest appearance on

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

's ''The

Christopher Lowell Christopher Lowell (born Richard Lowell Madden; November 6, 1955) is an interior decorator and former television personality. He is best known for hosting the television shows ''Interior Motives'' and ''The Christopher Lowell Show''. He won a Dayt ...

Show'' led to regular contributions to the show. In 2000, she appeared on NBC's ''

The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on May 22, 2002. This talk sh ...

'', and in 2002 she became a regular correspondent for the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

weekday morning show ''New Morning'', appearing in 31 episodes over five seasons in a series entitled "Soul of a House.” In 2008, she established the website Leslieness as a platform for increasing art access and visual awareness through writings & photography about art, life, and beauty. In the same year, she was a participating artist in "Department Store: A Collaboration with

J. Morgan Puett J. Morgan Puett (born 1957) is an American fashion designer and interdisciplinary contemporary artist. She first became known for her fashion designs and later for her contemporary art practice incorporating fashion. Life Puett was born in Hah ...

", the inaugural exhibit of the

Sullivan Center The Sullivan Center, formerly known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building or Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Store, is a commercial building at 1 South State Street at the corner of East Madison Street in Chicago, Illinois. Louis S ...

at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

. Erganian taught classes in film design at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

and photography at the University of Illinois, earning two awards for outstanding teaching. She has lent her voice to advancing verbal and visual literacy as a performer through

SAG Foundation The SAG-AFTRA Foundation (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Foundation) is an American organization that provides assistance and educational programming to the professionals of SAG-AFTRA. It also provides children’s literacy programs to the publ ...

in Los Angeles, and for the Deaf Media Arts Council in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education. She has become increasingly engaged with museum education through a series of ongoing programs with the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, believing that the role American museums play in the advancement of art education to learners of all ages is a vital national resource for the 21st century. She contributed to the architectural monograph ''

Raphael Soriano Raphael S. Soriano, FAIA, (August 1, 1904 – July 21, 1988) was an architect and educator, who helped define a period of 20th-century architecture that came to be known as Mid-century modern. He pioneered the use of modular prefabricated ...

'', published by

Phaidon Press Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional off ...

.Wagener, Wolfgang. "Raphael Soriano". 2002. pp. 198-205. In 2019, she co-authored the book NEW WEST: Innovating at the Intersection with Wolfgang Wagener, which was published by

Hirmer Publishers Hirmer Publishers is the name used by Hirmer Verlag, a German art book publishing house based in Munich, for its operations in the English-speaking world. Publishing history The publishing house was founded in 1948 by Max Hirmer and his wife ...

in October, and which in 2020, earned five gold design awards from PubWest for best book design. Erganian is a member of

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, record ...

, and lifetime member of the

Society of Architectural Historians The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide. Based in Chicago in the United States, the Society's 3,500 members include ...

References

External links

*
Leslieness

New West The Book

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erganian, Leslie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American contemporary artists American people of Scottish descent American people of Welsh descent American people of Finnish descent American people of Armenian descent Artists from Illinois Artists from California Writers from Oak Park, Illinois American television personalities American women television personalities University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni UCLA Film School alumni American women artists Artists from Oak Park, Illinois 21st-century American women